Power Paint
by TheWarrior0829
Summary: Despite being born with a quirk, many times Izuku Midoriya has been told he isn't good enough to be a hero. But when The Symbol Of Peace All Might himself gives Izuku encouragement and an opportunity, his seemingly weak quirk will become a powerful asset to help him with becoming the world's greatest hero. First fanfic, helpful feedback is welcomed.
1. Chapter 1

My Hero Academia: Power Paint

Summary: Despite being born with a quirk, many times Izuku Midoriya has been told he isn't good enough to be a hero. But when The Symbol Of Peace All Might himself gives Izuku encouragement and an opportunity, his seemingly weak quirk will become a powerful asset to help him with becoming the world's greatest hero.

First fanfic, helpful feedback is welcomed.

As an aspiring writer and a fan of anime, I figured this could be a good outlet for me and my imagination. I hope some people happen to enjoy this. As for the quirk I'm giving Izuku in this story, it's something that I thought of and is completely original (quite proud of myself for the idea if I'm being honest). However, it's up to you guys to decide if it's as good as I think. Now, onto the first chapter!

* * *

Disclaimer: I obviously do not own the rights to My Hero Academia.

Izuku Midoriya's day had started well. On the way to school, he managed to personally witness a few minutes of a hero battle starring Kamui Woods confronting a thief who could grow their body to an impressive height.

As the wooden hero prepared to land a finishing blow, a feminine giant hero made an appearance with a surprise attack. Despite the sudden attention change, Midoriya used the event to quickly update a section of his notebook he named "Hero Analysis For The Future" before having to continue his way to school.

Once in class, Midoriya quickly took his seat and daydreamed about his future. Midoriya's pleasant thoughts changed when the classroom teacher questioned his hopes and dreams.

"Don't you want to apply to U.A as well, Midoriya?"

Midoriya instantly sat up straight after absently hearing the question, and frantically stared at the teacher as the classroom became silent. After the majority of the students took a few seconds to register what the teacher asked, the room erupted with laughter directed at their classmate Midoriya.

"Are you serious? Has the nerd lost his mind?"

"Why in that nerdy mind of his he thinks he's got what it takes to be a hero?"

"But he's so weak!"

"He doesn't stand a chance, but it could be worse. He could be quirkless."

"With the weird quirk that he has, he might as well be."

The laughter and insulting comments were silenced by a small explosion in the room specifically placed on Midoriya's desk, startling him and causing the boy to fall out of his seat. The one that caused said explosion was a wild blonde student named Katsuki Bakugou.

"What the hell were you thinking Deku? You fanboying over heroes is one thing, but this is too far", Bakugou said while he glared down at Midoriya, who was scared out of his mind about the confrontation.

"Well um I've been analyzing heroes for a very long time, and I think it's helped me prepare for various hero situations. So I figured that I could have a shot at U.A with my mind and quirk", Midoriya replied as he subconsciously quivered while trying to explain himself.

"Could have a shot at U.A with your mind and quirk? That's a shitty joke. By that quirk of yours, do you mean you being a damn human paint dispenser?", Bakugou said while towering over Midoriya in both a figurative and literal sense.

"Listen here, and keep it inside that weird ass brain of yours. I'm the only one here that will make it big and become a Pro-Hero. The higher-ups at U.A know it, this whole school knows it, and you know for a damn fact that I know it. The only difference between you and them is that you're too much of a bitch to admit it. But believe it when I say that there's no point in you guys applying there, not when they can have me."

Midoriya was speechless after Bakugou's harsh remark, and so he watched as Bakugou made a scoffing noise and returned to his desk as if nothing occurred. Midoriya didn't have the courage to make it back to his seat until after the classroom teacher demanded for the remaining snickers to end.

* * *

Midoriya felt like time sped forward without his knowledge as the school bell rung, signifying that its students can leave.

'_Maybe it had something to do with being called out and ridiculed for having dreams'_, Midoriya gloomily thought within his mind as he stuffed materials inside of his bag. Before he could completely finish, Bakugou quickly approached upon Midoriya with two teenage teasers behind him, intending to talk once more to the green-haired boy.

"We're not done yet, Deku", Bakugou said while slamming a hand on Midoriya's desk in order to gain his attention. However, Bakugou noticed a certain notebook that belonged to Midoriya afterwards. "Hero Analysis For The Future, Vol. 13? You gotta be kidding me, Deku", Bakugou said before he tossed the skinny book behind him for one of the two followers to catch and observe.

"Know what? Doesn't matter, we gotta talk", Bakugou said as he quietly signaled Midoriya to walk away from the other two individuals in the classroom, and started talking in a hushed voice after the duo received distance from the idiots chuckling at the notebook.

"I know it seems like I'm being too harsh on you", Bakugo said as he placed a hand on Midoriya's shoulder, "But I'm trying to help you out, believe it or not. I'll be a man and admit that you're not as useless as the other dumbasses in the school. I know you've done some training in your spare time, you usually shrug off shit people say about you, and you've got more balls than anyone I've ever met. Since your quirk isn't exactly combat-based, you're willing to basically fight quirkless to become a hero. Not even I can try some shit like that."

Bakugou sent a small grin at Midoriya after the compliment, which Midoriya quickly returned.

"But", Bakugo continued, "you gotta remember that determination will not always get you what you want. Even with your notes, free training and your quirk to help you out a bit, you can be considered defenseless if the day came where you have to face a villain. It sucks, but being a hero just isn't for you." Midoriya's face started facing the ground while he sulked.

"Don't get me wrong Deku, that doesn't mean you can't help out. Putting that head to use, you could probably be a damn good sidekick. I just don't want you on the frontlines, where you could be seriously hurt or worse, if you can't handle it. Got it?", Bakugou said, and quickly received a head nod from Midoriya afterwards. The lackeys started walking towards Bakugou, interested on seeing how much he was chewing out the useless Deku.

"So don't even think about being a hero if you know what's good for ya, Deku", Bakugou loudly said as he returned to his bully persona once the followers got within hearing range. Both of the bully admirers purposely bumped against Midoriya's shoulders, nearly knocking him over as he tried walking back to his desk. After grabbing his book bag, Midoriya felt like he had something to say as well.

"Kacchan!", he yelled out, grabbing the attention of the three students. "You're wrong about me. I will get stronger, I will get into U.A, and I will become a hero. The words that you said won't change that, and I'll remember them when I prove you wrong." After the declaration, Bakugou released a full grown grin at Midoriya that the two behind him couldn't notice. "You're not gonna say anything back to Deku?", one of them responded to Bakugou as he was looking at Deku. "I already spoke my mind and shit hasn't changed, so he can hold onto his hopes for now", Bakugou replied and sent a undetected wink at Midoriya.

"I am gonna need my notebook back now", Midoriya said, talking to the two Bakugou admirers in particular. "Sure. Catch, Deku", the one holding his notebook responded with an obvious sneer. In an attempt to impress Bakugou, the bully threw the notebook to the other side of the room, missing Midoriya's hands and flew out of the open window.

"Oops. My hand slipped." Both of the lackeys started laughing, nearly missing Midoriya's actions as he approached the window, then quickly hopped on and out of the same exit his notebook flew out of moments earlier.

"WHAT THE HELL!?" The followers spoke with wide eyes after thinking that they just witnessed the class nerd attempt suicide. The two instantly rushed towards the window to view Midoriya's health, while Bakugou casually walked over to take a peek, already having an idea of what Midoriya had planned.

The three students looked down from the window and saw Midoriya not only alive and well, but was holding onto the windowsill on the lower floor of the building. Midoriya then descended after letting go of his hold, only to latch onto another on a previous floor with immense skill and dexterity. The young man repeated the unexpected process as he got closer to the ground.

"How is he doing that? There's no way he should be doing something so dangerous!", the notebook launcher exclaimed while he thought of what could happen if Midoriya's hand slipped.

"The nerd is fine and is taking his ass home, so I'm going too. Later, losers", Bakugou said as he turned to leave the classroom and finally lose the tag-alongs.

* * *

Once Midoriya safely landed onto the ground, he picked his notebook up, and placed the object in his book bag. Afterwards Midoriya started the path to his house, and explored his thoughts as he walked.

'_It's been a while since Kacchan and I talked, besides the times where it looks like he's pushing me around'_, Midoriya thought as memories rushed from the back of his mind to in front of him.

Midoriya and Bakugou used to hang out all of the time, but their childhood friendship took a turn when their quirks activated. Bakugou's powerful Explosion quirk, along with his personality that made it impossible to back down, turned him into a target. Bakugou got into fights often at school, even with older students, and as a result, Midoriya became a victim of bullying and torment due to being a known friend of a boy that couldn't be defeated.

The solution to the problem was simple. Bakugou pretended to break the friendship, and become Midoriya's biggest bully for his safety. After all, when someone as powerful and ferocious as Bakugou was believed to despise Midoriya, hardly anyone wanted or needed to pick on him more.

'_He's been pretending to be a brutal bully for so long, I've actually grown to be scared of him'_, Midoriya thought, _'But today was different. Today Kacchan talked to me like old times, and showed that he's still a good friend. Many people have told me I can't be a hero to bring me down, but he obviously doesn't want me to get hurt. He even complimented me!'_

'_I know Kacchan can and will make it as a hero, so I can't just fall behind. I'm sure that if I give it my all and then some, I can reach up to Kacchan, and one day…'_, Midoriya paused his thought and raised a clenched left fist to the sky, mirroring a pose of his favorite hero, _'...maybe even to _him_.'_

Just the thought of making it so far in his dreams caused Midoriya to get extremely giddy.

'_Damn it'_, Midoriya thought after he forced his body to calm down, _'I got myself all fired up. I guess I'll throw in some extra training today!'_

Midoriya laughed at his own antics as he walked into a large shady tunnel, but stopped after hearing a strange rattling sound behind him, followed by a strange and somewhat gooey sound. As he turned around, Midoriya witnessed a large being assumed to be made up of sludge slowly oozing out of a sewer tunnel.

'_I...think it's time for me to go now'_, Midoriya thought to himself as he slowly walked backwards and extended the distance between him and the unknown body of liquid. Suddenly, a large pair of eyes appeared from the sludge and focused on an lonesome and seemingly helpless boy.

"A nice body for camouflage", the sludge villain said as a disturbing smile from a mouth formed on his body. "Now be a good boy and stay right there." The sludge unexpectedly lunged at Midoriya, but the teen managed to bypass the shock of the situation and used a side jump to avoid the attack.

'_This is bad'_, Midoriya thought while trying to consider a method to escape the current situation safely. _'Very bad. This guy is quick despite his size, so I don't know if I can just run. I can't even use my quirk effectively for self-defense, the damn thing is liquid!' _

The personified sludge quickly faced Midoriya's direction and threw a liquid arm as another attack. Resolutely prepared to be defensive, Midoriya executed a side jump once more to the tunnel wall on his right. Midoriya then used the wall as a foothold to launch higher in the air and leaped over the villain. Turning while airborne, Midoriya performed a somersault before landing flawlessly behind the villain.

'_As I've seen this villain move, I can safely assume that his body is sticky. For now, I have to make sure he doesn't touch me.' _

Midoriya continued evading the sludge villain with a back flip followed by a combo of handsprings before he could be defeated by another attempted lunge. Enraged and frustrated at the thought that his chances of escape could be ruined by the likes of a mere child, the sludge villain picked up and concealed the manhole cover within himself without knowledge to Midoriya. A concrete plan in mind, the sludge villain charged again at Midoriya in a predictable pattern.

"I said stay still, you little brat!", the villain exclaimed before swinging a slimy arm towards Midoriya. The strike failed as the boy fending him off sidestepped out of range. While focused on dodging the initial attack, Midoriya didn't pay enough attention to see the sludge villain pull out the manhole cover off his body from behind him.

The villain grinned before he swung low and finally inflicted pain on Midoriya as the manhole cover smashed against his right leg.

"AAHH!" Midoriya screamed in pain as he fell on his back, not being able to catch himself. As the sludge villain slowly approached to consume him, Midoriya desperately completed a body roll to prevent his capture and pushed himself up to his feet after some struggle.

'_His attack definitely lowered the chances of me outrunning him. The risk is high, but I gotta slow him down somehow!'_, Midoriya thought as he quickly looked around his surroundings for possible options. After finally choosing an idea, Midoriya took off his large and bulky yellow book bag and held it near his chest as if he possessed a shield. Once in position, Midoriya looked the cocky sludge villain in the eye and charged towards him while keeping most of his weight off of his right leg.

Rapidly approaching the villain, Midoriya shoved his book bag into the villain's torso area. The book bag started sinking through like quicksand, with the slime's adhesion making it nearly impossible for Midoriya to pull it out. He smirked, before quickly placing his good leg on top of the stuck book bag. Before the villain realized what he was planning, Midoriya used the space of his book bag as a boost and jumped as high as he could achieve with his injured leg. He ascended over the sludge villain's head and did a front flip to possibly create distance from him.

Once landed, Midoriya tried fleeing from the villain but felt a strange weight on his foot somehow holding him back. He soon realized that the villain used his flexibility and wrapped an arm around it to prevent his retreat. After foiling Midoriya's plan, the sludge villain started lifting the boy by one of his ankles.

"Leaving someone without saying goodbye is very impolite, you know", the sludge villain said while hanging Midoriya upside down, despite his attempts to break free. "You need to learn some manners!" The sludge villain then flung Midoriya's body into a tunnel wall with great force, his back crashing into the cement and knocking any oxygen out of Midoriya.

After collapsing against the wall, the boy Midoriya tried rising from the ground with little success. _'Damn it, he's gonna kill me at this rate!'_, Midoriya thought in a panic as he watched the villain move closer and struggled commanding his body. _'I won't let him take me down so easily. I figured trying it would be useless, but I don't have many options left'_, Midoriya thought while he tightly clenched his fists.

Midoriya managed to get on his knees as he continued his thoughts, _'It might not hurt him at all, but it should at the very least distract him.'_ Midoriya's determination was shown through his eyes as he raised his hands towards the villain who covered him with his shadow, longingly staring at his prey with a smile. Midoriya mentally stated his resolve, _'I'm going to be a hero one day! I will not let this damn sewage monster do me in!' _

Midoriya glared at the villain and prepared to release his quirk from his arms, but was suddenly disrupted with a powerful gale of wind. The intensity forced Midoriya to shut his eyes and place his arms over his face for support. _'How in the hell is he doing this!?'_, Midoriya asked himself, thinking that the villain he encountered was responsible for such force.

Suddenly, as quickly as the high pressure wind arrived, it disappeared. Midoriya thought that his efforts were for naught and that the villain would attack him as he pleased, when someone placed a hand on his shoulder and a voice interrupted his fears. "Everything is going to be fine now, young man. Wanna know why?" Midoriya paused all previous negative thoughts once hearing the familiar voice. He had heard that same voice many times in a video his mother had played for him years ago. Midoriya slowly lowered his arms and opened his eyes and realized that he was still covered by a large shadow, but currently was of a man. Not just any man, but a hero he had always cherished. "Because I am here!"

"ALL MIGHT!? Is that really you?", Midoriya asked in confusion and awe, and briefly wondered if he was in a dream. "Yes, it is I! I've been following this villain for quite a bit, but managed to track him through the sewers, hit him with a Texas Smash, and trap him with these bottles!", All Might answered as he showed Midoriya the two plastic bottles filled with sludge, then set them within his pant pockets.

"Now I believe that is your book bag on the ground, correct?" All Might asked while looking at a yellow book bag and some materials that spilled out. "Ah, yes! Hold on!" Midoriya instantly responded and rushed up to reach his book bag, and digged within to pull out his hero notebook.

"Can you please sign this? If it isn't too much trouble.." Midoriya politely asked his hero while trying to remain calm. "No trouble at all, my boy!" The tall hero quickly snatched the notebook out of the excited boy's hands, pulled out a black marker from his back pocket and signed his name over two blank pages before returning the book.

"THANK YOU SO MUCH!", Midoriya screamed after seeing the autograph in his notebook and carefully placed it back inside of his book bag. After watching Midoriya gather up his stuff, All Might said "Young man, I am truly sorry for you getting hurt before I got here. Had I not focused so much on avoiding the horrible smell in the sewers, I would've stopped him sooner." Midoriya looked down and noticed that the injury the hero talked about was shown through a tear in his pant leg; a lengthy red cut on his right leg where the metal cover had hit him. "It's just a scratch, it'll be fine. My favorite hero saved me today, and I am forever grateful to you for that."

"That means a lot to hear that from you, young man. Tell me, what's your name?" Midoriya nearly collapsed after hearing the question, but managed to remain standing. "Izuku Midoriya, sir."

"Before using my Texas Smash, I saw the look in your eyes when you fought back as best as you could, by yourself no less. I could tell you want to be a hero. Perhaps one day we'll meet again, young Midoriya. Until then, stay safe!" All Might threw a huge smile before he squatted down and took a great leap into the sky.

* * *

All Might was slightly confused while in the air, feeling somehow heavier than usual, but by looking down realized that the boy he recently saved was tightly holding onto one of his legs.

"Young Midoriya I love your support but this is a bit much! If you could let go, that would be much appreciated."

"IF I LET GO NOW, I'LL DIE!"

After admitting that the boy had a very good point, All Might permitted him to hang on his muscular limb, with one hand one the boy's collar to keep him steady, until he landed on a nearby rooftop. The boy sighed in relief as he let go and sat down to take a break.

"Now, young Midoriya", All Might said as walked towards him with no smile present on his face, "Please tell me why you would think to try something so reckless."

"I'm really sorry about that All Might, but I did it because I need to ask you a very important question. People have wondered it many times about me throughout my life, and I even asked myself during my encounter with that villain", Midoriya said while All Might wondered about the incoming question. "If I am stuck with a weak quirk, even if almost everyone I've ever met has considered me powerless…Even so, can I still be a hero?"

All Might was silent for a few seconds as only the sound of wind blowing near was heard. He then opened his mouth and asked, "Well tell me this, young Midoriya. What is your quirk?"

"Well", Midoriya began, "my quirk allows me to release-" The explanation was interrupted when immense amounts of steam abruptly started discharging from All Might's body, so much that within seconds his entire figure was covered. _'Ah shit, this is bad! I was talking to the kid for too long and now my time's up!'_ All Might internally panicked as he felt his hero form change.

The steam finally dispersed from the rooftop, and Midoriya clearly witnessed the true appearance of Toshinori Yagi, a skinny man with baggy clothes. With wide eyes, Midoriya realized that the man looked exactly as his hero All Might would, if he was deflated.

"WHAAAAAAT!?" Midoriya shrieked into the air knowing that the fragile looking man and his savior All Might were one and the same person. "How is this possible?"

Toshinori sighed at the explanation he knew he would give the boy and said, "The muscular form you just saw is like the equivalent to men at pools flexing their muscles to look better. I hold it to save people whenever I can, but as you have seen, I cannot do it as long as I used to." "What do you mean, All Might? Hasn't this always been a part of your quirk?", Midoriya asked, curious about the hero's current condition.

"Unfortunately not, young Midoriya. You see, I was not always a hero limited by time, but rather it was a price I had to pay in order to bring down someone during my hero career", Toshinori explained before he lifted up his over-sized t-shirt.

Midoriya gasped in shock as he witnessed a large scar that covered the left side of his hero's chest.

"This happened five years ago in battle with a powerful foe", Toshinori said explaining his wound. "In the end, I lost my entire stomach and the damage to my respiratory system is irreversible. As a result, I can only be a hero for a few hours a day."

"Did this happen with the villain Toxic Chainsaw?" Midoriya asked as he thought back to All Might's previous battles. "Clever guess, but no", Toshinori said. "I made sure that the fight wasn't made public. I didn't want anyone to know that The Symbol of Peace was permanently injured. That being said, can you promise me that you will not tell a soul about any of this?" Midoriya immediately responded with, "I promise, All Might! Your secret is safe with me."

"Good, young Midoriya", Toshinori replied as he sighed in relief and calmed down significantly. "Now with that out of the way, about what you discussed earlier. Do you truly believe that your quirk is weak?"

"No All Might!" Midoriya responded, "at least, not completely. It's just that my quirk isn't as powerful as super strength and explosions, or as combat oriented like the abilities of telekinesis and fire breath. I've always wanted to be a hero, but that means my quirk has always been competed against and compared by others. It just seems a bit silly to place mine on the same level as any of those quirks."

"Don't put yourself down so much, you're looking at a man that only has super strength for a few hours", Toshinori said as he used his situation to attempt lifting Midoriya's spirits.

Before Midoriya could respond, an explosion was seen residing from further into the city. Shocked, Midoriya looked at the altered All Might and asked, "What do you think that was?" "I have no idea-" Toshinori started, but by chance looked down and noticed that his pockets, the holder of the captured villain, was empty. "Shit!"

Midoriya was confused before he had the same realization that Toshinori received seconds earlier. "Oh no, the villain!" He paused before asking the hero, "Do you think the explosion is because of that same villain?" Toshinori stood in silence before saying, "As much as I would hate to admit it, I have a bad feeling that it is."

Midoriya suddenly turned to the closest roof railing before he jumped over the object and stopped his descent by grabbing the windowsill on the side of the building, then let go to catch the next one.

"Young Midoriya!" Toshinori shouted after the the boy, watching him move further down the building. "What are you doing?"

"I need to know if the villain is loose back there!" Midoriya yelled back in response while using the same method he used for his school building to land onto the sidewalk. Once on ground level, Midoriya started running in the direction of the earlier explosion.

'If that villain escaped, then it's my fault that he's free. The bottles he was trapped in must've fell out when I grabbed onto him! If I could be responsible for people that got hurt, then I can't just sit around and hope that everything goes well!'

As Midoriya ran to his destination, Toshinori turned to the roof entrance and rushed through and down the stairs, hoping to eventually catch up to the boy.

* * *

Midoriya stopped running to reclaim his breath as he approached the crowd of people watching heroes deal with a villain situation. Due to Mount Lady being too large to help, Kamui Woods being too busy helping trapped civilians and staying away from flames, and Death Arms being seen flying into a wall, not much success had been made. Through the pile of people however, Midoriya was able to see the unmistakable sludge villain cackling beyond the flames without anyone to stop him.

"Can you tell me what's going on?" Midoriya asked a nearby civilian who has been watching the hero and villain struggle much longer than he has. "The villain over there took a kid and has been using the combination of his slimy body and the boy's quirk to fight back against the heroes. Right now, it look like we'll have to wait for a hero with a more suitable quirk to show up and take this villain down", the observer told Midoriya.

Ironically, the shrunken form of Toshinori appeared to the back of the crowd, slowly restoring his already low stamina after running after the young boy Midoriya. Looking at the current situation as the heroes fail to injure the villain in any way, Toshinori cursed himself. _'I shouldn't have dropped the damn bottles! Because I was so careless, heroes can't put an end to the villain's destruction and all I can do is watch! So useless!'_

Midoriya thought to himself, _'Someone is being held within the villain and used to wreak havoc! That's what the villain wanted to do to me before All Might interfered, but now he's not able to help anyone! He wasted his time with me, and now the villain he already defeated is putting other people's lives in danger! Damn it, I'm so pathetic!' _Being forced to watch as the liquid criminal slipped through any attack belonging to the heroes, Midoriya noticed that from the hands of the victim controlled by the villain, bursts of fire blasted towards the heroes intending to capture him.

'_Wait, that isn't just a regular fire quirk!'_, Midoriya realized during observation. Midoriya's body started shaking in fear and horror, now knowing that his greatest friend Katsuki Bakugou was trapped suffocating inside of a villain hijacking his body. Witnessing his friend's desperate struggle in the evil fluid, Midoriya guessed that Bakugou may soon reach his limit. _'If somebody doesn't do something...Kacchan will die!'_

Midoriya's body suddenly stopped quivering and slowly pushed himself deeper into the crowd. Once close enough to clearly see the villain abusing his friend, Midoriya broke into a full speed sprint after completely breaking through the group of bystanders.

Death Arms and other Pro-Heroes on the scene shouted for the kid to return to safety, but was ignored as Midoriya's mind was solely on the fact that his friend will die if he doesn't receive help soon. The shouting for the boy reached the rest of the crowd, which tore Toshinori's attention away from blaming himself and caused his eyes to widen while witnessing the young boy he interacted with earlier sprint straight into danger.

'_I probably should be letting a Pro-Hero handle this, but I refuse to watch Kacchan suffer anymore!'_ Midoriya charged with the thought of saving his friend himself, before he quickly devoted his mind to forming an effective plan. He briefly remembered to analyze and aim for any villain's weak points in his hero notebook, and believed that his quirk would be very beneficial for the plan.

Quickly reaching the villain who had remembered not being able to take over a green haired brat, Midoriya sent a small blast of black paint out of both palms, which he aimed at the villain's round eyes. The fluid wrongdoer was suddenly blinded, and while confused as he both attempted recovering from the unknown attack and wondered what the brat did to him, the villain couldn't defend himself when a familiar book bag smashed against his jaw.

Affected by the sudden attacks, the villain had lost some grip on Bakugou's body, which allowed him to free his mouth and finally breathe. Noticing that Midoriya started pulling his body out of the villain's clutches, he asked "What are you doing Deku? Don't you know that if this guy gets his hands on you he'll kill you?" "Can't help it! After seeing you like that, it was as if my body moved for me!", Midoriya responded while pulling on Bakugou's hand as hard as possible. "Besides, it looked like you needed a hand."

"In a minute, you're gonna need a damn coffin!", the sludge villain screamed at Midoriya as he finally removed the paint from his eyes and tried connecting with two tendril attacks. The first missed completely as Midoriya ducked under the appendage and quickly stood up, while the second attack grazed his shoulder as Midoriya tried spinning out of the way. The attack tipped Midoriya off balanced and caused him to fall, but he quickly performed a kip-up to further protect himself.

'_If I can't pull kacchan away'_, Midoriya thought to himself as he placed his arms outwards once more, _'then I'll make kacchan useless to him!' _Pressing his palms close to each other, Midoriya secreted a dark green coloring substance and launched forward a basketball sized paint blast. The sludge villain was on his guard and prepared to protect any of his vulnerable body parts, but did not realize that the blast was not aimed at him. Bakugou was suddenly covered in the paint when the blast burst, and somehow the paint started rapidly absorbing into his body, giving the trapped boy emerald skin where the paint landed on him.

Not knowing why the brat attacked his friend or what effect it had, the sludge villain decided to end the rescuer's life before he got anymore ideas. The villain used Bakugou's right hand and quickly shoved it into Midoriya's face, intending on using the quirk of the boy he trapped to blow the teenager away with a point blank attack. The villain grins wickedly before triggering the quirk, not noticing the fact that Midoriya was wearing a smile as well.

The full power of the explosion quirk was replaced with tiny sparks hitting Midoriya, to the shock and confusion of the villain, and the relief of everyone else watching Midoriya's actions. Midoriya slightly recoiled from the pain inflicted to his face, but he knew it was nothing compared to the original effect.

The sludge villain became frustrated as his main power source was reduced to mere flickers of the power he possessed earlier, and in response threw Bakugou's body from his fluid and towards an alley wall. Bakugou rolled to the ground and safely stopped his momentum. Once away from the sludge villain, Bakugou mentally acknowledged Midoriya's clever planning. _'You did good Deku. You did good.'_

Still outraged about what the brat took away from him, the sludge villain said, "I'll just take you as a replacement!", and rushed towards Midoriya with unexpected speeds. Knowing that he wouldn't be able to move out of the way in time, Midoriya placed his arms in a defensive position as best as he could on such short notice and braced himself. Immediately afterwards, he felt a short burst of air just ahead of him, and noticed that it felt familiar to what he had felt in the tunnel earlier. Looking ahead, Midoriya saw that in between him and the sludge was his favorite hero All Might, stopping the villain's desperate lunge.

"You do remember how this ended last time, don't you villain?" All Might asked the villain whose eyes were now widened in fear. "Let's switch it up this time", All Might declared as he brought back his muscular right fist, and let loose a punch at the sludge villain as he shouted "DETROIT SMASH!", producing vigorous winds around the area that even Mount Lady had to shield civilians from. Seconds after the wind dissipated, many people was shocked as they felt raindrops coming from the sky.

"HOLY CRAP, HIS PUNCH JUST CHANGED THE WEATHER!"

"That's All Might for ya!"

All Might raised a fist towards the sky as the civilian's cheers were magnified, but the hero kept his eyes on the two now safe and sound middle school students.

* * *

Midoriya slowly walked down the street as he thought about what happened after All Might have saved the day. _'The Pro-Heroes all scolded me for jumping in, but praised Kacchan for his powerful quirk. Not like they were wrong, I could've gotten killed if my plans were a bit off. I just wish I could've talked to All Might to apologize.'_ Midoriya lowered his head until he heard someone familiar call out to him. "Yo Deku!"

Midoriya turned around to see Kacchan running towards him, and stopping once next to Midoriya. "I never got to thank you because of all of the annoying heroes gathering around me." "Thank me?", Midoriya asked. "You and them were right, I just got in the way and-" "And you also saved my life", Bakugou quickly interrupting Midoriya. "You did what those heroes couldn't and did something!"

"But All Might saved you Kacchan", Midoriya stated, still thinking that the entire incident was his fault. "Wrong, All Might saved you after the villain had a tantrum about being outsmarted by a middle schooler", Bakugou corrected Midoriya. "_You_ saved me." He paused for a second before leaning in and embracing Midoriya with a tight hug. "So thank you, Deku." After letting go, Bakugou turned around and started walking home. Before he got too far, he turned around with a smile and told Midoriya, "Maybe you're fit to be a hero after all." After the last statement, Bakugou left a surprised Midoriya.

Midoriya recovered from what he heard after a few seconds and started walking as well. _'Today was totally bonkers, but I ended up meeting All Might, received praise from Kacchan, and felt like I truly made a difference, despite what those heroes said.'_ Feeling the beautiful light of sunset as he walked, Midoriya mentally declared that his day couldn't get much better, before suddenly seeing All Might appear before him from a corner.

"All Might!", Midoriya screamed, surprised again by his appearance. "What are you doing here?" "I figured that I had to find you and tell you something", All Might said. "But first", a sudden wave of steam surrounded All Might until it disappeared with Toshinori's true form shown. "Now I can relax."

"First off, I should apologize." Midoriya was immediately about to refute, but was stopped before words spilled out of his mouth with Toshinori's palm facing towards him. "Please let me finish, young Midoriya. I apologize for not acting sooner for saving your friend, and for not answering your question earlier. I don't know much about your quirk, but it was essential towards the freedom of the hostage today. After seeing you in action today, using both your quirk and your courage, I can proudly tell you young Midoriya, that you can be a hero."

After hearing All Might's declaration, Midoriya was forced to wipe away tears from his eyes and gave his hero the biggest smile he could form.

"Besides", Toshinori said, "It helps to know that you are much stronger and skilled than I was when I was your age." After this statement, Midoriya was completely flabbergasted. "That should not be possible, All Might. How is that possible?" "Well young Midoriya, earlier today you said your weak quirk can't compare against others. However, I knew that you were better than I was, charging into danger with a quirk you yourself considered weak to save someone from someone stronger than you. I doubt I would've been able to do the same, considering the fact that I was among the weakest of the weak."

Midoriya took a few seconds to figure it out, but still could not believe what he thought. "All Might...Do you mean that you were-?" "Yes, young Midoriya. At a time that feels like a lifetime ago, I was quirkless. Truth is, the power that resides in me today was actually a gift I received from a past mentor."

"I'm confused", Midoriya said very bluntly. "I would be surprised if you weren't, young Midoriya!", All Might said with a chuckle. "What I'm saying is that I now possess a powerful quirk that can be passed down to another person, while cultivating and stockpiling energy and makes the quirk holder stronger than the previous. The quirk is call One For All, and the very reason I'm telling you all of this is because I believe that you are worthy to be my successor and become the next wielder of One For All."

_**Authors notes**_

I hope everyone enjoyed this first chapter, and I truly thank whoever went through the time to read this. There were a lot of changes to canon, and I plan on making a lot more (cue diabolical laugh), but hopefully all will be good and enjoyable. The next chapter will explain Midoriya's quirk in detail, because I'm sure some of you were confused, and will begin Midoriya's training. Some time skips will be added, so by the end of it Midoriya will be getting ready to tackle the good old U.A entrance exam.

If anyone decides to review, please tell me what you thought of the chapter and stuff I could fix if you didn't like it, not just "This story sucks!", because that doesn't help. Hope you stick around for more chapters!


	2. Chapter 2

Hello people! After getting such good feedback so soon after publishing the first chapter ( I totally didn't expect so much so quickly by the way), it inspired me to put more effort into the second chapter, which is why this one took so long. On the good side, the chapter is lengthy to make up for it. Seriously, thank all of you guys for the favorites and follows and nice reviews. As small as it may seem to more popular stories, it means a lot to me. That being said, I hope you all enjoy this chapter!

* * *

"I'm sorry All Might, but this has been a very long day, so I'm gonna need you to say that again slower. You want me to _what_?" Midoriya asked, still attempting to wrap his head around what Toshinori has asked him. "I want you to be my successor, young Midoriya," Toshinori said. "Come the day where I can no longer be the hero the world needs me to be, there will have to be someone that will step up and take on the mantle of being The Symbol of Peace. Hell, maybe even become a greater hero than I was." Toshinori paused before he summoned a bright smile and said, "I want that someone to be you. If you wanted to say yes, of course."

Midoriya immediately responded with "Yes! I'll do it! I won't let you down All Might!" Toshinori chuckled at the young boy's enthusiasm and said, "I know you won't. We'll start your training tomorrow, so hand me your phone and I'll text you the address." While Midoriya was thrilled about All Might giving him his personal cell phone number, Toshinori added himself to Midoriya's contacts. "As for using my personal number, the only time I won't respond as soon as possible is when I'm on Hero duty, so keep that in mind." An eager head nod from the boy was sent to Toshinori.

"Alright, I think it is time for you to head home soon. Be sure to arrive at the location I text you at 5 am tomorrow, and try not to be late if you can help it. Becoming my successor is gonna be hard work, so we're gonna hit the ground running. Get a good night's sleep, and I will see you in the morning, young Midoriya." Midoriya waved goodbye as Toshinori walked away, then deciding to finally make it to his house.

Stepping through his front door, Midoriya was immediately attacked at high speeds with a rib-crushing hold, utterly confused until he heard someone say, "Oh, my baby boy! I heard on the news how a villain attacked you and Bakugou! My poor boy, you even got a gash on your leg after facing that scary thing! I almost had a heart attack!"

Midoriya shook his head and said, "You don't have to worry anymore Mom, I'm fine!" Inko Midoriya jokingly slapped her son on the shoulder and said, "Don't say that! I'm your mother, worrying about you is my job!" Izuku laughed and agreed that she had a point. His mother asking about his day, Midoriya briefly told her about how he encountered the villain, and how he went up against it to save Bakugou the second time he saw it. After the explanation, Inko fiercely held Izuku in her arms. "Aww, my little hero! As worried as I was for you Izuku, there is no word that can explain how proud I am!"

Midoriya tightly hugged his mother back as he thought happily, _'I sometimes forget how supporting my mom is, despite her extreme worrying habits. While I was wishing to prove to anyone that I can be a hero, she was always in my corner.'_

Keeping the information he learned about All Might from his mother was hard, but Midoriya knew it was for the best. People on the wrong side of the law would be willing to do just about anything to do something damaging to the #1 hero, so the less people who could be seen as a target through him, the better. _'In fact, that would be one of the many things she'd worry about if she knew. For now, I'll have to keep her in the dark about it.'_

After saying goodnight to his mother, Midoriya started getting ready for bed early. He was frankly extremely excited for the next day to begin. _'I still can hardly believe it, but tomorrow I'm gonna be training with All Might. Tomorrow starts the first step of me becoming a hero.'_ Deciding to push away his thoughts and take All Might's advice about getting rest, Midoriya closed his eyes and let himself be carried away from the conscious world.

* * *

Midoriya was wide awake by 4:30 am, and dressed himself with a black tank top and dark green shorts after hopping out of bed. He made himself a quick breakfast consisting of lightly toasted bread with peanut butter spread on the top with sweet tea to drink, and quietly left the house at 4:45, not wanting to wake his mother up.

After closing and locking the door behind him, Midoriya suddenly burst with energy and jogged to the location All Might had sent him, having high hopes for what training he would experience later. He eventually set his jogging to a stop once reaching Dagobah Municipal Beach Park, and realized that he was a few minutes early after looking at his phone. Midoriya walked closer, hoping to survey the land while waiting for All Might, but abruptly heard someone behind him shout, "Great job, young Midoriya! Not only did you arrive five minutes early, but you show no signs at all of being tired! You truly are a great listener!"

Midoriya chuckled after knowing that the sudden shouting came from All Might, and said "Well I was just so excited yesterday, I ended up going to sleep early." "Wise decision," All Might said, "Because that will work in your favor today! After all we have a lot to do, and being tired only slows you down!"

All Might was about to start telling Midoriya about the effects of One For All and why he has to train so hard, but paused to look at Midoriya's body. Currently wearing a tank top, his muscular arms were revealed to the hero. All Might's eyes widened slightly as he saw Midoriya's visible lean and refined body.

"Is there something wrong, All Might?" Midoriya was confused by All Might's pause at the beginning of his sentence, and was currently staring at him. "Nothing at all, my boy! I just didn't realize earlier that you've already had some training of your own! I couldn't notice in your school uniform, but that figure is quite impressive for your age!"

"Thank you All Might! It's just that for the last few years I trained by learning parkour and free-running. Since I first started, it's been a way for me to enjoy myself while staying fit." All Might nodded and said, "Well I will say that the extra training will definitely pay off, both with your training and handling my quirk." Curious about what the hero meant, Midoriya asked, "Wait, help how?"

"Like I said yesterday," All Might explained, "The power of One For All increases through each wielder, so it could be a challenge to adapt to. If I was to give the quirk to you now, your body most likely would not be able to handle its energy." Midoriya quickly shuddered after imagining himself exploding after obtaining the powerful quirk. "That's what your training is for, young Midoriya," All Might continued. "It will help your body become strong enough to properly handle the power. Only thing is, I expected to have to train you from scratch, so that will give you a great advantage."

Midoriya grinned and asked, "So how will we start training, All Might?" "Someone's very eager, I see!" All Might smiled back at the trainee. "First off, please tell me what you can about your quirk. The more detail, the better." Midoriya nodded and said, "I call my quirk Power Paint. It allows me to release paint from any exposed skin on my body. It has two different forms, the first I call Casual Art. Using it, I can release a regular form of paint, with any color I think of." Midoriya showed All Might the first category of his quirk by summoning a tiny puddle of red paint in the palm of his right hand, before turning his hand and letting the paint drip to the sand.

"The second form is what I call Diminished Art. Like the first, I release paint from anywhere on my body, but this paint is special. The color is always dark green, and I can have it quickly absorb into whatever it lands on, including skin for people. It then weakens any object it's bonded to, and it can weaken the quirk of anyone the paint is used on. The more paint that's bonded, the weaker it is." Wanting to give a demonstration, Midoriya blasted a nearby scrap of metal, where All Might witnessed the object turn an emerald color before it suddenly became covered in rust, until the fragile material fell apart.

All Might was surprised by the display, and became even more curious about Midoriya's quirk. "The final benefit of my quirk is a side effect while using Diminished Art. When my paint weakens something, my body strength, speed and tolerance increases. As for the drawback, the Diminished Art will automatically deactivate from whatever it weakened if I fall unconscious. Also, using too much of Diminished Art will give me a headache until I deactivate the paint. If I ignore it and continue, the headache will grow to a migraine, and can become so punishing it could lead to me passing out from the pain."

All Might was shocked once again by what Midoriya's abilities can cause, but he collected himself and asked Midoriya questions about his quirk. "Is it possible for you to change the shape or form of the paint you produce, young Midoriya?" The boy answered the question with, "I can make the paint form into a ball to launch it at something, but I can't affect the shape of the paint any more than that." Nodding to signal that he understood, All Might asked another question. "How much of that Diminished Art paint of yours can you produce before getting a headache?" "My max amount without getting hit with the drawback is a basketball sized attack, the same blast that I used on Kacchan yesterday," Midoriya answered. After knowing what he wanted to know, All Might started describing Midoriya's training plan.

"Alright, young Midoriya. Your training will include practicing with your quirk in various ways, sparring with me for some fighting experience, and finally," All Might gestured to the location behind him, "Cleaning up all of the trash from this beach to claim your prize!" Seeing Midoriya's shocked expression, All Might continued. "We only have 10 months until the U.A entrance exam. Considering that you know so much about me, I'm assuming you're aiming there?" Midoriya used a nod as his answer. "Well my goal is to finish your official training, help you with using One For All, and make your original quirk more combat based before then. It's gonna be hard as hell, I'm not gonna lie to you, but I believe you can pull it off. So, are you ready to start?" Not discouraged, Midoriya took in a breath and shouted "BRING IT!" After Midoriya's shout of resolve, his ten months of hell officially begun.

* * *

"Alright, bye mom!" Midoriya quickly said goodbye to his mother before he walked out of his house and started heading to Bakugou's place. With permission Midoriya decided to sleep over his friend's house for the weekend, since the two had not been able to hang out for quite some time. _'These past four months, I feel like I've been doing nothing but training with All Might. It's been helping out a lot, but it's made me miss out hanging with Kacchan on more than one occasion. It feels nice to actually take some time off for a bit.'_

All Might, after stating that sometimes resting can be as important or more than the actual exercise, gave Midoriya some time to himself. Grateful for the opportunity, Midoriya accepted and made plans with his friend. As he walked to the front door and knocked, said friend opened the door with a smile on his face.

"Nice to see ya without having to pretend that I hate your guts, Deku," Bakugou said as he welcomed Midoriya into his home. "It's nice to see you too, Kacchan," Midoriya said as he took off his shoes and placed his bag on the couch. "So, what do you wanna do first?" "We're doing a marathon of some pretty cool American movies," Bakugou responded. "And if you don't fall asleep before it's over, then I get to kick your ass in that new hero game I got last week!" Midoriya smiled brightly at Bakugou's answer. _'Kacchan and I have been waiting for this game to release for months, and I finally get to play it tonight!'_

"We'll see about that later, Kacchan. But first, we need the marathon supplies." "You're right," Bakugou said. "I'll start the popcorn and bring the snacks, you get the drinks." The teens both sped into the kitchen for their respective duties, and walked out with everything they needed once the popcorn was finished. Laying out the junk food in front of them and setting up the subtitles on the screen, Bakugou and Midoriya started their night with the film Kick-Ass.

* * *

Hours later, Midoriya and Bakugou were on the floor discussing the movies they enjoyed. After starting with the Kick-Ass franchise, Bakugou and Midoriya watched John Wick for the first time, and immediately fell in love.

"Next weekend, we _have_ to see the second movie," Midoriya stated. "Hell yeah, we do! But now, it is finally time for your designated ass whooping!" Bakugou responded with equal enthusiasm. "I can't wait to make you eat those words, kacchan!" Midoriya shouted back as the two readied their gaming controllers. After Midoriya chose the character Kamui Woods, and Bakugou interestingly decided to fight as the infamous villain Toxic Chainsaw, the two immediately started their digital battle, which over time became a war.

"I'm still convinced that you somehow cheated, Deku. How in the hell did you win so much!?" Bakugou expressed his frustration at a grinning Midoriya after the gaming was eventually put to an end. "Maybe I was just filled with the hero spirit," Midoriya said, playing with his friend's emotions. "That is some _bullshit_, Deku. You were beating me before with a villain once or twice. You even kicked my ass as a sidekick!"

While he complained about Midoriya literally beating him at his own game, Bakugou suddenly realized how tired was and looked at the time, which read 3:25. "Whatever, I'm calling it luck and going to sleep. I can kick your ass in the morning." Laughing at Bakugou's comment, Midoriya wished his friend goodnight as he walked to his room. Midoriya then turned the channel of the television to a hero documentary, and ate some leftover cookies as he sat on the couch and enjoyed himself.

* * *

"Why in the hell can't I fall asleep?" Midoriya murmured to himself as he laid on his back in the darkness of the living room. After finishing the documentary, Midoriya put back all of the uneaten sugar he and Bakugou pulled out, and attempted to fall asleep. Midoriya turned his head towards the clock and realized that it was 4:50. Groaning to himself and giving up on trying to get a wink of sleep, Midoriya stood up and stretched his body.

'_Maybe I should take a walk, get some fresh air.'_ Motivated by the relaxing act, Midoriya placed his hoodie over his head, grabbed his phone and quietly walked out of the front door. Being familiar with Bakugou's neighborhood, Midoriya walked around with no clear destination, simply enjoying the cool rush of air around him as he moved. After a few minutes of aimlessly traveling around the area, Midoriya found himself at a very familiar location: Dagobah Municipal Beach Park.

'_I forgot the beach is closer to Kacchan's house than it is to mine. I guess my legs just brought me here subconsciously.'_ Deciding on being productive since he was already there, Midoriya started lifting scraps of metal as large as his torso, and haul it over to the collected garbage pile he started a few months ago. While moving any heavy disposed material on the beach, using his quirk on anything too hefty to break down into more manageable parts, and dealing with the standard exercising with All Might, Midoriya had progressed in his hero's training plan much more than he would have hoped for if he was still on his own.

'_The training plan was definitely a pain in the ass to get used to,'_ Midoriya thought to himself as he lifted an abandoned tire,_ 'but it's been paying off more than I thought it would. Every time I spar with All Might, I feel like I'm leaps and bounds ahead of where I was when I started!'_ Making sure not to overdo it and injure himself, Midoriya gave himself a break for a few minutes.

'_Now that I think about it'_, Midoriya thought after receiving a sip of water from a nearby fountain, _'I've only been able to work on the trash here either right after school or after All Might's time is up, and that time is usually used for other activities.'_ Midoriya stood up and started pacing while continuing his thoughts. _'But now, I have the whole beach to myself with some free time and can work with a longer time period. Depending on how much breaks I need to give myself, if I spent the morning here, I could possibly finish cleaning the beach today!'_ Smiling brightly from his exercising hypothesis, Midoriya took off his hoodie along with his shirt underneath. Readying himself for the work, Midoriya rolled his shoulders and said, "One For All, here I come!"

* * *

Toshinori walked down the path to Dagobah Municipal Beach Park in order to judge Midoriya's previous progress with pleasant thoughts of his protege running through his head. _'I have big hopes for young Midoriya, and the vast determination he possesses. Even if I didn't offer him training or my quirk, there's not a doubt in my mind that he will one day become a great hero. In fact, I'm sure that as soon as he's done enjoying his break, he'll be shouting for more training!' _Toshinori while in deep thought suddenly heard a loud shout nearby. He originally assumed someone was in need of help, but in close distance witnessed an event that truly shocked him.

"JUST..ONE..MORE!" Midoriya shouted to himself as he carried a large piece of a broken refrigerator on his shoulder, his right arm wrapped around the metal to secure it. The immense amount of sweat on his body had the boy glisten in the sunlight as he walked with the heavy object. Midoriya then used his free arm to start climbing up the massive pile of junk. Despite his trembling limbs, Midoriya continued to ascend the heap. Finally, upon reaching the top he slammed the piece onto the platform. Afterwards, he placed his right foot onto his final obstacle, took a deep breath, and let loose a mighty scream of victory for his accomplishment.

After the victory had kicked in, exhaustion filled Midoriya's body and caused him to sway off of the junk platform. Before impacting against the sand, a transformed All Might caught the boy into his arms. "All Might...you're here?" Midoriya asked using a weak voice. "Indeed I am!" All Might responded with his signature deep voice and smile. "I wanted to see how much you had left before your break, but to my surprise I see you finishing the whole beach! You took my expectations and blew them out of the damn water!"

After setting Midoriya down on a bench in order to have his body recover, All Might continued complimenting him for the completed objective. "You did a fantastic job, young Midoriya. And so, I am proud to now give you your hard earned award One For All!" Midoriya's body seemed to have had its previous energy resurrected within as he quickly stood up after the statement. Midoriya watched in awe while All Might plucked a single blond hair from his hair, extended his arm and said, "Eat this!"

Figuring that DNA must be consumed to transfer the unique quirk, Midoriya took the hair from All Might's hand and quickly swallowed it. After a few seconds, Midoriya noticed that there was no change to himself after consuming the DNA. "All Might, I don't feel any different. Is there a reason for that?" "Well it needs time to digest, young Midoriya," All Might said. "Give it a few hours, and you'll be feeling the power of One For All easily!"

Immediately after All Might telling the boy that he would have to wait further to feel the quirk's effects, Midoriya felt a vibrating buzz within his right pocket, and pulled out his cell phone knowing that it was the source. Turning on the screen, Midoriya saw a text from Bakugou asking "Where the hell are you?" After quickly responding to his friend that he was performing morning exercises, Midoriya turned to All Might and said, "I better get going, my friend is wondering where I've been-" "That's a great idea," All Might interrupted. "Go join you friend, and come back around sunset. I'll even have some friends of mine here with us to help you when using One For All for the first time!"

Thinking of theories on who would be joining him and All Might, Midoriya started walking back to his friend Bakugou's house. _'It'd be cool if there's a hero he knows that will show up.'_

* * *

The afternoon flew by as Midoriya walked back to the beach he cleaned hours ago. After arriving at Bakugou's house, he was challenged in the video game he was surprisingly undefeated in, and Bakugou received more losses on his mental tally board before Midoriya walked home. Greeting his mother and changing into a new set of workout clothes involving a green short sleeved shirt and black shorts, grabbed a bag of supplies and left the house for an evening exercise.

His break officially over, Midoriya thought of many ways to add the power of One For All into his hero training while on the way to meet All Might. _'It's gonna be so exciting! Who knows the kind of effect it will have on my original quirk, or maybe it will act as an entirely different quirk! I'm gonna safely assume my strength will increase, and maybe all of my other senses. Can that be a possibility and further improve my free-running!? God, I'm getting more excited by the second!'_

Wanting to quickly find out about the quirk, Midoriya picked up the pace by turning his walk into a swift jog to his destination. Upon arriving at the Dagobah Municipal Beach Park, he briefly saw All Might talk with an elderly man and woman, Midoriya only recognizing one of the two as they turn towards him hearing his footsteps.

"R-Recovery Girl!? The woman with the quirk of healing most serious injuries in seconds with just a kiss? She's really here!" Midoriya quickly realized how much he was freaking out in front of the individuals and said frantically, "Ohmygosh, I'm so sorry for being such a nerd, but I'm a big fan of yours!" The woman chuckled and said, "It's okay, sonny. Toshinori over here told us beforehand that you're a big fan of heroes. Honestly, I'm flattered that I still have youthful fans nowadays." After hearing that Recovery Girl actually didn't mind his enthusiasm, Midoriya pulled out his hero notebook and pen he stored within his bag and asked, "Then, is it okay if you wrote your autograph in my hero notebook?" "Of course," Recovery Girl responded, taking the notebook and pen into her small hands.

The old heroine wrote her signature on a blank page before looking through previous ones, and was shocked once she saw they were filled with intelligent notes on heroes he watched. "Whoa, I didn't know this young man was so smart. Breaking down someone's quirk details this well based on mere observation, that's mighty impressive!" Midoriya blushed from the compliments he was receiving and thanked Recovery Girl, while Toshinori grinned with pride for his student.

The old man present finally spoke and said, "Seems like he's got a good head on his shoulders. Much of an improvement from Toshinori's empty one over here." Toshinori's grin immediately morphed into a look of dismay and shock after the insult. Midoriya turned and took a good look at the unfamiliar old man. _'Based on him wearing a yellow and white costume, along with him being here with All Might and Recovery Girl, I'm fairly certain that he's a hero.'_ Midoriya walked towards him and said, "Hi, it's nice to meet you sir." The man extended his hand for a shake and said, "Right back at ya, kid. The name's Sorahiko, but my hero name is Gran Torino." Midoriya shook hands with Sorahiko and smiled. He continued, "I would have Toshinori train with me, back in the days when he was just a skinny brat." Sorahiko pointed his thumb behind him to Toshinori and said, "Seems like much hasn't changed," teasing the hero's true form.

"You were All Might's teacher? You mean you're responsible for the man he is today? That's amazing!" Midoriya went into another rant of excitement after officially knowing who the old man truly is. _'Holy crap, I can't believe I was able to shake his hand!'_ Without realizing it, Midoriya started muttering his thoughts aloud to the people around him. "That must mean that Gran Torino is pretty strong, after all he helped All Might in his prime before being limited by his injury. Even at his current age, I'm betting he can kick my ass! I wonder what his quirk is, will it have something to do with his thick gloves and boots? Regardless, if he helps train me, I think that I'll benefit from it significantly. Plus, I'd be able to witness the power of All Might's teacher firsthand. Training is gonna be much more interesting if that's the case. Maybe I can ask if he'd be willing to sign my notebook as well-" Midoriya suddenly realized that everything that was on his mind was spoken in muttering loud enough to be heard.

"Um I'm sorry," Midoriya said. "I was pretty certain that I had a handle on that now, but I guess sometimes it just slips out." "It's fine," Gran Torino said as he quickly grabbed the notebook and started writing his signature on the same page as Recovery Girl. "I mean, today you start using a powerful quirk belonging to the world's number one hero. Your excitement about this is completely understandable." "Speaking of training," Sorahiko called out to Toshinori, "Do you think we should get started?" Toshinori replied, "Yeah, I believe that enough time has passed for it to take effect."

"Young Midoriya, I'm gonna need you to attempt bringing out the energy of One For All. Summoning its power will feel different than your natural quirk, but after feeling it for the first time it will be relatively easy." Midoriya, knowing that the time was currently serious, placed his notebook and pen down near his bag before he stood in front of the adults and focused. Shortly after he closed his eyes, he felt a foreign energy he had never felt before. It felt nearly endless, and somehow emitted a vibe similar to All Might's. _'This must be One For All. I just have to reach out to it.'_ Midoriya mentally stretched his right hand out to the energy, which felt brighter as he got closer. The moment it come into contact with his skin, the energy of One For All fused to his arm to the point where he opened his eyes and felt the power residing under the skin of his arm. Slowly moving and monitoring it, Midoriya saw that his arm was glowing with energy.

Toshinori smiled and said, "Great job, my boy! You did it! How does it feel to you?" Midoriya said while still in awe of the quirk, "It's kinda like lightning in my veins." Toshinori then said, "Because we need to know what effect it'll have on you when using One For All, I want you to face the ocean and release that energy out of you with a punch." Nodding at All Might's request, Midoriya turned around and got into a fighting stance. Once ready, Midoriya pulled his arm back and pushed it forward with the intent of using One For All.

The quirk reacted accordingly to his wishes, and released a shock wave as it was withdrawn from Midoriya's body. Only one of the spectators, Recovery Girl had to shield her eyes from the intense wind it produced, both Toshinori and Sorahiko previously having close experience with the power. The ocean it was aimed at rose and temporarily made high walls in between the force. It took a few seconds for the power to dissipate and allow the water to settle, as Midoriya himself was shocked beyond belief that such strength appeared from him. He started to raise his arms up for the success, but suddenly felt a great deal of pain once he moved his right arm.

"Guys, I think my arm is broken," Midoriya said as he cradled his arm and tried his best not to cry from the pain. Recovery Girl quickly stepped forward and pulled on her X-Ray Goggles, a support item she would use to help determine how bad an injury is. After a quick scan, she winced and said, "It's fractured in several places. Let me take care of that, dear." Recovery Girl promptly kissed Midoriya's forehead, and his wound started rapidly healing. _'So this is Recovery Girl's quirk up close,'_ Midoriya thought as he noticed his pain was fading. Before he knew it, his arm looked and felt as if he wasn't injured at all.

As Recovery Girl backed away knowing that the boy is no longer hurt, Midoriya turned and said, "That is definitely a big problem. Did I do something wrong when I used it?" All Might patted his student on the shoulder and said, "You did nothing wrong, young Midoriya. The power of One For All can be simply hard for someone's body. I actually didn't expect such an injury from you, considering how well I handled it." Midoriya became a bit upset knowing that his teacher was capable of handling the quirk without injury, even as he was a quirkless teenager.

"Please don't try comparing yourself to dumb Toshinori over here," Sorahiko said. "For every user, the effects of One For All can be different. Although Toshinori didn't get hurt using the quirk, the hero that used One For All before him had a bit of difficulty controlling it as well. The fact that you only had some fractures after using that much power for the first time is nothing but impressive." Midoriya said, "Thank you, Gran Torino. Wait, you knew both All Might and the hero that gave him One For All?" Sorahiko responded with a nod. "We were good friends. When they decided to give Toshinori One For All, I trained him through their wishes. Besides, even if Toshinori handled One For All just fine, from what I heard you're twice as better as he was at actual skill. Back then, I'd kick his ass until he puked, and then hit him some more!"

As Gran Torino told Midoriya his stories from years ago, Toshinori shivered from the memories of what he faced training with Sorahiko. "Anyway," Gran Torino said, "How exactly did it feel like using One For All? Because the effects are different for every user, so is the feeling of the user when they release it." "Yes, that's true!" Toshinori said, barging into the conversation once forgotten his fears of training. "For me, releasing One For All feels like using a slingshot. Depending on what I'm using it for, I can control how far I pull back the slingshot for more power when I let go. So, how did it feel for you?"

Midoriya took a few seconds thinking, recalling on exactly what he felt when One For All was being used. Finally thinking of the right metaphor to explain, he spoke up. "It was like putting an egg in a microwave!" Both Toshinori and Sorahiko participated in a few seconds of silence before Toshinori said, "Well, that's definitely unique. But in your case, I guess the solution to your problem would involve lowering the wattage so the egg won't break within the microwave. Any ideas on how to do that?" "I got it! I know how to do it," Midoriya exclaimed after thinking of a method to control One For All. "I can use my quirk on myself! If I use my Diminishing Art, which can weaken the power on someone's quirk-" "Then you could weaken the output of One For All until you can control it!" Gran Torino said, finishing Midoriya's thoughts and sharing his excitement. "Pretty smart, kid!"

Toshinori said, "So I guess we should start there then! Recovery girl will be here if you need healing, and Gran Torino and I will be here in case you need any guidance with One For All. I saw your determination earlier today, so I believe you will figure this out, young Midoriya." Nodding at his helpers, Midoriya faced the ocean once more. He quickly summoned his Diminishing Art from his right forearm before letting the paint sink beneath his skin, altering the color to one resembling of a forest. Midoriya then charged up One For All in the same arm, and gave himself a mental mantra to focus on before he fired: _'Lower the wattage, don't break the egg. Lower the wattage, don't break the egg.'_

* * *

Midoriya released another One For All smash towards the ocean of the beach, while simultaneously being weakened by his own Diminishing Art. The result was a shock wave piercing through the waves, but not nearly as powerful as Midoriya's first few attempts. The effect seemed to be more controlled as Midoriya lowered his punching arm and inspected it for damage. His right arm was covered in bruises, but had not received a single fracture or any other major injuries from the usage of One For All. Turning to Recovery Girl, Gran Torino, and a deflated All Might behind him, Midoriya requested Recovery Girl to quickly heal his arm of its minor injuries. The woman kissed his swollen arm, which caused almost instant removal of the bruises. "Alright, are you now ready for the next one?" Toshinori asked his student before he would start another smash. "I almost got this down, of course I'm ready," Midoriya replied with a smile before he turned around and started filling his arm with One For All again.

Drawing back his arm, he repeated his familiar mantra to focus on the quirk. _'Lower the wattage, don't break the egg.'_ Midoriya then let the power of his quirk free from his limb, which had a controlled force of wind emerge from its source of origin. Once the wind dispersed, Midoriya checked the condition on his arm. Unlike the previous trial, his arm was perfectly smooth, looking exactly as it did before he activated One For All, and held no pain that Midoriya could detect. Grinning about his improvements, he raised his right arm and pointed it towards the sky, mimicking one of All Might's hero poses. Midoriya then turned and showed his helpers the growth of his control of the quirk.

"I finally did it! I didn't injure myself at all," Midoriya said to Sorahiko, Toshinori and Chiyo. "Great job Izuku," Recovery Girl said. Gran Torino complimented Midoriya next and said, "Not bad, kiddo. In just a month, you managed to handle some of One For All's power without injury. Knowing firsthand how powerful that quirk is, that is an amazing accomplishment." Midoriya then saw Toshinori step forward as he said, "You've made me proud, my boy! I know that getting this quirk wasn't easy for you, but you kept at it until you finally grasped it, and now learned to do it without repercussions." Toshinori gave Midoriya a brief hug and they both smiled, one through satisfaction of another and the other due to the great feeling of fulfillment.

Once the teacher and student separated, Sorahiko said, "I just hope you haven't gotten tired just yet. Your growth has been great to witness, kiddo, but we've still got five more months until the entrance exam at U.A. If we're gonna increase your chances of getting in as high as possible, we can't afford to start slacking." Midoriya nodded and said, "Yes, Gran Torino-sensei! So, what would the next part of training be?" "Well considering we used a month for you to get a handle on One For All, we should probably get your first quirk up to speed," Toshinori said.

Sorahiko approved of Toshinori's answer and said, "Indeed. When dealing with possible threats in the future, you wanna have as many options as possible in battle. As great as One For All is, you would be limiting your potential significantly if you solely focused on it." Sorahiko then turned to Toshinori and said, "That was a pretty smart response. Seems like Midoriya inspired you to finally use your head, eh Toshinori?" "Anyway," Toshinori quickly said, not taking the chance of being teased by his teacher again, "We should get started now. Young Midoriya, show us your paint attacks increasing with power after each blast, but don't try going past your limit."

Midoriya, upon agreeing that he would stop should he reach his limits, turned back towards the ocean and attempted to release a small blast of dark green paint from his paint. Instead, a large torrent of his paint propelled from Midoriya's hand. Not expecting large amount of paint nor the force behind it, Midoriya felt the kickback from the blast push him off his feet and onto the sandy ground. Worried for the young man, all three adults rushed towards Midoriya and helped him up. "As impressive as that was, Young Midoriya," Toshinori said a little confused, "I thought we agreed that you would start small and work up your power bit by bit." Midoriya then explained, even more puzzled than his mentor, "That's the thing, All Might. That was me trying to start small, but somehow a huge blast was released. The weirdest part is, that was the biggest and strongest paint blast I've ever used, but I haven't reached my limit at all."

"I suppose that makes sense," Sorahiko spoke up, as he placed his hand on his chin for thought. Toshinori after a few seconds seemed to pick up on what Gran Torino was thinking as to how the sudden quirk outburst happened, but Recovery Girl and Midoriya were still confused. "What do you mean, Gran Torino-sensei?" the old man turned to Midoriya and said, "We didn't notice it because since you received One For All, you've only used it to weaken yourself to eventually get a handle on your new power. But, it seems like One For All passively enhanced your natural quirk greatly, to the point of effortlessly releasing much more power than before, and increasing your threshold of how much paint you can use before the backlash."

Midoriya beamed with delight once realizing his enhanced abilities, while Sorahiko murmured to himself, "Guess he'll need more training with his quirk than I thought." Gran Torino then called over Toshinori and told him, "The kid's gonna need a better environment to train with his quirk. With it being so powerful now, and him using One For All, the beach can easily be trashed all over again." "So where do you suggest we train him then?" Toshinori asked his teacher.

Sorahiko smirked and said, "We're taking him to my house."

* * *

The four individuals walked into Gran Torino's small apartment, the owner leading the way. "Um, Gran Torino-sensei? I don't mean to be rude or anything but, are you sure this is the place where we should be right now? I thought we should be focusing on training my abilities?" Midoriya asked Sorahiko after observing the small interior of the house. "Kid, I know that it may not look like much-" "That would be quite the understatement, Sorahiko," Recovery Girl said. "As I was saying," Gran Torino continued, a bit annoyed about Chiyo cutting him off, "There's more to this house than you think. Now, everyone follow me down to my basement." As the rest followed Gran Torino thought, _'Basements aren't really common here. Is it some secret training room he has or something?' _

Shaking away his ridiculous ideas, Midoriya traveled with the rest of the group and watched Gran Torino open a door and walk down a long flight of stairs. Once reaching the bottom, Sorahiko hit the light switch to a relatively large room, much larger than the typical basement. Being able to see the room clearly with the lights on, Midoriya noticed that the room was completely grey in color, and consisted of grid squares along the floor, walls and ceiling. Sorahiko stepped further into the room, then looked back at his three guests before speaking. "From now on, we'll be training here. We don't have to worry about trashing the place, it was built to withstand One For All." Midoriya looked at Gran Torino in shock and awe before looking around at the room again. _'My crazy guess about the basement was right!?'_

"We'll also be changing up your training a little bit, by having your quirk training changed to training sessions with me and Toshinori," Gran Torino told Midoriya. "Today, I'll be instructing you. When you're with me, maneuvers with be the focus. You have to be able to quickly adjust to a situation you're in for you to respond accordingly, and my quirk will come in handy of teaching you that. Either you keep yourself on your toes, or take the same ass-whooping that Toshinori took when we trained here." Midoriya turned his head and saw his idol violently quivering being reminded of the pain he experienced in the training room because of Sorahiko, while Recovery Girl tried her best to calm Toshinori down.

"Wait, so we're gonna start right now?" Midoriya asked Gran Torino. He gave Midoriya more distance as he moved towards the center of the room. Gran Torino then started stretching his limbs as he said, "No time like the present, kid. Besides, aren't you still curious about what my quirk is? Helping you with One For All, you haven't seen me use it yet." Midoriya smiled at Gran Torino's type of motivation, and started to loosen up his body as well. "So here are the rules," Gran Torino explained to Midoriya. "I'm going to come at you, and your job is to use any of your skills and abilities to end the session with as less damage as possible. That can include running, but honestly that will be a challenge too. The session ends when you hit me with a paint attack, you survive for ten minutes or you take too much damage, whichever comes first."

Recovery Girl, after helping Toshinori recover from his trauma and hearing Sorahiko's rules, pulled out her phone and created a timer for ten minutes. She then nodded at Sorahiko, signaling that she was ready to start for him. "You ready, kid?" Gran Torino gave a final warning to his youngest student before Midoriya quickly nodded and transitioned his body into a stance that showed he was ready to move. "Alright, ready…" Gran Torino started as Midoriya's body slightly tensed up in anticipation. "..GO!" After hearing the shout, Recovery girl quickly hit the start button on her touch screen.

Sorahiko heard a beep indicating that the timer had started, and instantly used his Jet quirk to propel himself upwards, then bounced off from wherever he landed in the room, effectively turning him into a human pinball that could barely be seen due to his speed. Midoriya soon forgot about the training session as he watched the teacher move so unexpectedly fast. "Holy crap-" Midoriya started, but was quickly interrupted by a slap in the face courtesy of Gran Torino, before he bounced away. Midoriya staggered back from the attack, but fortunately it snapped him out of his quirk analyzing trance he was stuck in.

'_HOW IN THE HELL IS HE SO FAST!?'_ Midoriya mentally started freaking out about how powerful the elderly hero was as he tried figuring out a way to survive Gran Torino's session. _'Okay, I need to calm down. Calm down. Alright, now he was so fast I couldn't see his attack, but he briefly stopped to hit me then started bouncing again. That will be my chance.'_ Midoriya then narrowed his eyes in concentration as he observed his surroundings and allowed his analytic side to help with the situation. _'He's bouncing unpredictably, there's no pattern in his movements. I just have to be ready when he tries hitting me.'_ Midoriya tried his best in having his eyes dart from one direction to another as he patiently waited for an opportunity with Gran Torino. Finally, Sorahiko lessened the air coming from the bottom of his boots to give the boy another attack for simply standing in place. _'NOW!'_ Midoriya felt a rush of air near him and saw a blur rushing towards him. Hoping that he would get the timing right, Midoriya instantly let go of his body weight and caused himself to fall backwards just as Gran Torino struck his fist where his head was, barely dodging the attack. While Gran Torino was still airborne, Midoriya while falling extended his right palm towards the teacher above him, and quickly released a weakening paint blast that shot out of his hand like a cannonball.

Before it could touch the teacher, Gran Torino pushed air through the holes of his boots to accelerate himself away from the paint. _'Damn it, even at close range he can move so quickly!'_ Midoriya quickly pushed himself off the ground and cursed himself for not being able to successfully execute his plan, as Gran Torino stood in front of him. "Don't you think you'll have a better chance at running, kid? You're not gonna catch me at your level," Gran Torino said while flooding his words with smug. Midoriya took a moment to push the thoughts of his failure to the side, and shook his head as he took a step towards the hero. "No, Gran Torino-sensei. I'm not going to get into U.A or handle my abilities like a hero by running away." Slightly shocked by the boy's resolve, Sorahiko thought to himself, _'Hmm, seems like you two are definitely alike when it counts, Toshinori. I can feel your determination rubbing off on him.'_ Turning his shock into excitement, Sorahiko smiled and welcomed Midoriya to attack again with using his right hand as a beckoning hand gesture.

Midoriya suddenly charged, using five percent of One For All in his legs to attempt getting close to Gran Torino again. Upon reaching punching distance, Midoriya again tried a paint blast against Gran Torino, but the man propelled himself and was in the air as the paint splattered onto the floor. _'This time I'll get him,'_ Midoriya hopefully thought as Gran Torino had not blasted himself to another location yet. Quickly letting loose another paint blast, Midoriya watched is shock as Gran Torino noticed the blast from below, accelerated towards it and expertly spin around the attack as he continued his route to Midoriya. Thinking quickly, Midoriya responded to Gran Torino's charge by raising both hands and launching one large paint blast after another, executing a combo of his attacks.

Gran Torino smirked due to his opponent's quick thinking, but continued his acceleration. At the last second, the hero performed a somersault over one blast, then immediately duck under the next one within range. Gran Torino precisely dodged other attacks using his speed and years of experience. Closer to the ground, Gran Torino encountered a volley of blasts horizontally lined up to catch the teacher. Instead, Gran Torino slowed himself down and let himself freefall under the trap, and accelerated himself again after a front flip.

_'Dammit, the quantity of attacks can't catch him off guard either. They're moving too slow to hit!'_ Midoriya attempted to think of another plan for Gran Torino, but was currently running short. With the hero rapidly approaching and no idea on how to attack, Midoriya jumped to the left to dodge an attack as Gran Torino threw a punch. Unfortunately, Midoriya didn't realize that the hero had a backup plan, as he used his quirk in a short burst to land on the ground, then accelerated to drop kick Midoriya in the back, causing him to yell in pain and crash face first onto the floor.

Midoriya quickly turned his body from his position and kicked himself up to stand in front of Gran Torino. He raised a palm to aim at Sorahiko, and the man only smiled in response. _'This sucks,'_ Midoriya thought as he considered his predicament._ 'We both know damn well my attack won't land, I'm just buying time to think! If none of my current blasts can touch him, how can I make them faster? Maybe I could-That's it!'_ Midoriya finally felt a more efficient idea give birth into his mind as he smiled back at Gran Torino._ 'The blasts I've been letting out have been big but slow,' _Midoriya thought back while curling his open palm into a fist. _'So if I manage to focus and compress it'_, Midoriya continued his thought as he stuck out his middle and index finger from his clenched hand, and pointed his thumb up, pointing a handgun at Gran Torino. _'Then now I can just make them small and fast!' _Midoriya, now confident with his plan, fired the paint blast from the tip of his fingers.

The attack was much more concentrated and swift than the previous blasts like Midoriya predicted, and managed to catch the hero off guard due to its sudden speed. Gran Torino widened his eyes in surprise before quickly ducking under the launched attack, missing him by a hair's length. Fully motivated, Midoriya fired more compressed paint projectiles before Gran Torino had the chance to blast away. Sorahiko had to resort to dodge on the ground, and performed weaving motions to avoid getting hit. _'Not bad, kid. Not bad at all,'_ Sorahiko thought as he focused on ensuring that his student did not win.

Gran Torino saw an opportunity to use his quirk after dodging another paint shot, and instantly bounced around the room, taking the fight to his advantage again. The teacher started attacking Midoriya more frequently as he bounced around, knocking the boy around every few seconds to wear Midoriya down. After accelerating again, Gran Torino taunted Midoriya as he flew past him. "Doesn't seem like you're keeping yourself on your toes, kid!" Midoriya instantly tried swatting behind him after hearing Gran Torino's voice, but was too slow and received a hit on the head as a result.

Despite the faster paint blasts Midoriya was shooting at the hero, Midoriya was repeatedly getting pinned down by Gran Torino's aerial attacks and could not think his way out. _'Damn it, it's like Gran Torino-sensei can dodge anything! What should I do? What _can_ I do?'_ Midoriya covered his head with his arms and silently withstood Gran Torino's barrage as he thought deeper. _'My big paint blasts are too slow, and even with my compressed ones, Gran Torino-sensei is just too good. Plus his speed gives him any advantage he needs. Power, more mobility than I can keep up with, _and _the air is his home field. There has to be a way to push him back a little! Oh, I know! I can think about strategies I've seen other heroes use and find one that can help me!' _

Midoriya recalled multiple battle strategies he had observed over the years in hopes that his analyzing hobby could assist him with his battle once again, while attempting to deal with the damaged inflicted on him as best as he can. _'I won't be able to bind him like Kamui Woods could, so that's out. Death Arms would just have the same problem I'm having now, can't replicate any of Mt. Lady's strategies for obvious reasons, and I clearly can't safely pull off a smash attack of All Might's level.'_

Gran Torino decided to take his strength up a notch on Midoriya, who stood attempting to create another plan. _'I like that you're using your head here kid, but no real enemy is gonna give you the time to do that,'_ Sorahiko thought to himself before boosting his speed to accelerate towards Midoriya. While he was thinking of giving the boy more of a challenge, the young man was mulling over battles as well. _'Most heroes have strategies based solely on their quirk, so I'm still stuck! I bet someone like Kacchan could-' _Midoriya stopped his thinking process after registering the pain in his side from a speed-fueled kick that Gran Torino gave him. Midoriya crashed to the floor and clutched his most recent wound as Sorahiko landed. "You did good, but it seems like you can't do anything more," Sorahiko said before seeing Midoriya struggle to stand. "You should stay down kid. If you stand up now, I'm only gonna go harder on you." Midoriya only tried harder to stand on his two legs, but could only reach to getting on his knees. _'I don't think I'm strong enough to continue.'_ He was about to tell Gran Torino that he surrendered, but quickly remembered what he was thinking before he fell.

'_Do what Kacchan would do in this situation. I know that he wouldn't quit after being put on his ass, so neither should I.'_ Midoriya then thought about his best friend's fighting style, imagined his actions if faced with the same scenario. _'With the open space in this room, he would take the fight to the skies with Gran Torino-sensei using his quirk to propel him up. He's not as fast, but his explosions would give him some form of protection.'_ Midoriya's eyes suddenly widened in realization of what he can incorporate from Bakugou.

The first thing Midoriya decided to do was take off his shirt, leaving a white tee underneath. Shaping the clothing into a ball between his two hands, Midoriya soaked the shirt using his Diminished Art, before leaving it abandoned on the floor. He then took off his shoes and socks, while mentally reinforcing his new plan. _'Take the fight into the skies, use your quirk as offense and defense.'_ Midoriya took a deep breath as he felt the strength exchange enter his body from using Diminished Art. The energy slightly buffed up his muscles, and quickly melted away the pain that was hindering him. Midoriya stood to his feet and stared at Gran Torino, feeling powerful and confident as if the previous failures had never happened.

Toshinori watched his student stand in silence as his mind hoped that the battle would go in the boy's favor. _'I believe in you, young Midoriya. Show Sorahiko a thing or two for me!' _As the Symbol of Peace cheered for his student within his mind, Midoriya readied himself to fight Gran Torino once more. _'Alright kid,'_ Sorahiko thought. _'Let's see what you got.'_ He slowly crouched to ready his legs for the increased force. "Remember kid. Either stay on your toes, or get your ass kicked. I'm not gonna be throwing out any puny attacks anymore." After Sorahiko's statement, Midoriya said, "I know. Neither will I," wearing a fearless smile on his face as he used his right hand to punch his left open palm.

Suddenly, Gran Torino bounced around the large grid room at greater speeds than before. At the same time, Midoriya leaped in the air to begin. _'Propel yourself like Kacchan, you got this!' _Sorahiko used his acceleration and bounced from the top of one of the walls to a straight path towards Midoriya by the time the boy started falling. Before Gran Torino could land a hit on the boy or said boy's feet touched the floor, Midoriya became a blur that abruptly shot up towards the ceiling. All other individuals in the room were shocked by what was witnessed. _'How in the hell did he do that?'_ Sorahiko thought, before looking up and receiving an answer. As Midoriya launched himself back down to Gran Torino, He was able to notice that the kid was accelerating by releasing a stream of his paint from his feet.

Sorahiko blasted himself away from the punch Midoriya threw, but didn't expect the attacker to smile and execute a somersault while in midair. While the action seemed random, it was deliberately carried out, as small drops of Midoriya's green paint flew near Gran Torino. Sorahiko managed to see the trick in time and backed away right before it landed where he stood. _'Crap, he's actually getting close!'_ After almost being hit by Diminished Art, Gran Torino launched himself away from the ground, but quickly realized that Midoriya wasn't far behind.

'_Gotta stay on his tail. I won't let him get away using his speed anymore!'_ Midoriya thought as he accelerated further, ensuring that his teacher wouldn't receive more breathing room. The two flew and bounced rapidly around the room as one chased another, but the distance between them were relatively even. _'Let's make this a little bit harder for Gran Torino-sensei,_' Midoriya thought as he started shooting small paint blasts from his free hands. Gran Torino had to resort to release more air from his boots and move in a more unpredictable fashion in order to dodge the additional obstacles. _'He's doing much better than I thought, right when it looked like it was over too. If I wasn't so annoyed by his efforts right now, I'd probably say I'm proud of the kid,' _Sorahiko hastily thought to himself as he focused on avoiding anything Midoriya threw at him.

Gran Torino, after looking back at the student, decided to switch to offense and bounced from the wall to Midoriya at blinding speeds. Before he knew what was going on, Gran Torino kicked Midoriya on the side of his face, the force behind the kick causing him to cancel his quirk and fall from the air. Sorahiko thought that the kid had gotten knocked out by the attack and needed to be saved, but saw Midoriya flip and stop his descent with a continued stream of paint, slightly leaning forward to regain his balance. After wiping some of the blood from his head, Midoriya sped up to face Gran Torino. _'Alright, I think it's time to end this!' _Both teacher and student unknowingly thought about each other, hoping to bring the battle to a close.

Gran Torino attempted to use a high speed drop kick to end the fight, but once within range Midoriya entered One For All into his arm, and used a powerful wave of wind to swat the small hero away. Midoriya then launched his compressed paint blasts at rapid fire in Sorahiko's direction, hoping to catch the teacher with the large amount. Gran Torino responded with increasing his speed once more, and dodged the blasts as if doing so was casual to him. _'Dammit, I won't be able to keep this up! At my old age, my legs will start cramping soon,' _Sorahiko thought to himself as he created distance from the blasts, then used his momentum to propel towards Midoriya once again.

Due to the great speed, Midoriya had to focus intensely, using his senses to detect which direction his opponent would come from. Finally Midoriya determined that Gran Torino would come from the side after dodging his paint shots. He stopped his stream of Diminished Art paint from one of his feet, and while balanced lifted up his free leg and enhanced it with One For All. Gran Torino's attack landed as he threw a punch at the younger man, but Midoriya managed to block and negate the force with the use of his leg. Midoriya then extended the leg, hoping to impact Gran Torino with drops of paint fresh on the soles of his feet, but was forcefully pushed in the opposite direction as the wise man pointed his legs towards Midoriya and activated his Jet quirk to get away.

Midoriya's back hit a wall of the room, but still controlled his quirk to keep him hovering. Once completely recovered by the surprise attack, Midoriya charged at Gran Torino, starting a plan to overpower him and land a winning blow. As he approached, Midoriya raised his right palm with his fingers lowered, but Sorahiko nearly laughed at the attempt. _'You already tried that on me many times before, kid,'_ Sorahiko thought before the attack. Instead of seeing the large blast that was easy to avoid like he expected, Midoriya summoned five compressed shots from the tips of each finger simultaneously, taking advantage of the hero's confusion.

Gran Torino was barely able to dodge the five attacks, and only realized that a large paint blast was rushing towards him afterwards. _'Distract me with a few small shots so you can hit me with a big one. You impress me more and more,'_ Sorahiko thought, but the effort wasn't enough. Gran Torino deactivated his Jet quirk and let himself fall below the blast, effectively avoiding all of Midoriya's attacks. As Gran Torino quickly planned to rush Midoriya from his position below, he realized that the kid was nowhere in sight. He observed his surroundings, and saw that Midoriya was behind him. While Gran Torino dodged the attack like Midoriya had planned, he moved along with the large projectile, giving his teacher a false sense of safety while entering his blind spot.

'_Shit, he's almost got me!'_ Not wanting to be caught within the trap, Sorahiko started to use his quirk and prepare to avoid capture, but Midoriya had other plans. _'You're not getting away this time!'_ Midoriya thought as he filled his dominant leg with the energy of One For All, before kicking behind him and releasing air waves that pushed Midoriya closer to Gran Torino, boosting his movement. Reaching the teacher, Midoriya released a blob of paint from each hand and threw them forward, the paint spreading out in midair. Due to the leg strain, Gran Torino was not able to restart his quirk in time and felt the wet paint impact against his costume and skin beneath.

Once ending the battle, Midoriya grabbed hold of Sorahiko's small body as they fell, and protected them both with fueling his legs with One for All and absorbing the force once they landed on the ground. As he let go of Sorahiko and deactivated his Diminished Art, Midoriya instantly felt the others start to congratulate him. "You did a great job, my boy! Never at your age would I have been able to beat Sorahiko, so you impressed me greatly for pushing him so far," Toshinori exclaimed to his student. Midoriya smiled and thanked All Might, before requesting Recovery Girl to heal his head injury.

Midoriya's gash on the head vanished moments after, and Midoriya became curious as to what would happen next. "Wait, Gran Torino-sensei. You said earlier that training sessions will be split between you and All Might. What would I be working on with him?" Toshinori responded, "Why, strength, of course! Although I can't teach you anything that can increase your mobility, I will use our training sessions to teach you how to increase your power, both with your paint quirk and One For All. While in my training days I learned a bit of boxing, so I could show you some techniques to use as well, and even my personal moves afterwards."

Midoriya gasped and his excitement level spiked. "You mean you'll teach me your smash moves? That would be so awesome! Can we start now? I think I can handle learning the Detroit Smash first!" Smiling during his expected rapid speaking, Toshinori waited for Midoriya to calm down and said, "Yes, young Midoriya. If you feel like you are ready to start now, then that's fine. First off, let me show you some basic boxing techniques, and when you get those down, then we'll try the smash that you want to learn."

* * *

"DETROIT SMASH!" Midoriya shouted as he released the power of One For All from his fist directed at All Might, who used a One For All smash of his own to counter his attack. Midoriya then rushed at All Might and engaged in close hand-to-hand combat. The speed and power of Midoriya's punches improved since he first started his training sessions with Toshinori, but any smash attack thrown at the number one Hero was easily blocked or parried in his inflated form. Not getting any progress, Midoriya backed up a short distance before using Diminished Art under his bare feet to propel him several feet in the air. Then, Midoriya turned off the quirk boost and let himself fall down as he let One For All's energy enter his right leg. Once a small distance above All Might, Midoriya performed a flip before using his enhanced leg for an axe kick aimed at his opponent's head.

All Might blocked with one bulky arm crossed over the other, but Midoriya back flipped off of his limbs and fluidly harnessed One For All into his right arm. Midoriya let out a battle cry as he landed on his feet and instantly swung in an upward arc, using an uppercut smash on All Might. The attack surrounded the area with fierce forces of wind, but All Might remain uninjured and unaffected as he latched onto Midoriya's arm with one hand slightly below his jaw. After catching the attack, All Might pushed him away with a slight but powerful tap, sending Midoriya flying a few feet away before stopping himself by planting his feet on the ground as hard as he could.

Midoriya charged at the hero once again, his stance and One For All power up to his arm indicating that he was readying a punch as he got closer to his teacher. All Might brought his arms up to block, not knowing Midoriya's plan. He secretly was charging up a paint blast within his clenched hand, hoping to release a stronger form of his paint blasts. _'Hold it, hold it...Now!'_ Midoriya was in front of All Might, winding up his arm, but as he sent his arm forward he dispersed One For All to open his fist and release the blast he was holding.

All Might was hit with the blast at point blank range, knocking him to the ground as the paint was absorbed into his skin. Midoriya felt confused as he was sure that he hit All Might with his paint ability, yet felt strength slightly sapping away from his body instead of being increased. He looked at All Might curious about what happened, but saw his short sleeved shirt and sweatpants drenched in paint of a lime color. As All Might stood up, Midoriya felt even greater pressure radiating from his body, not seeming to be weakened in the slightest. _'What in the hell is happening? My Diminished Art paint has always been dark green since it awakened, and All Might seems stronger than before I blasted him! It doesn't make sense,'_ Midoriya wondered to himself. "Young Midoriya," Toshinori said, looking at himself and feeling almost twice as powerful as he normally would in his state. "What just happened?" Midoriya was about to tell All Might that he had no idea, but Sorahiko spoke up instead.

"It seems like he awakened a new version of his paint quirk. Midoriya, during the battle did you use your quirk any differently than how you normally would?" Midoriya responded, "Yeah, for the final blow I charged up the paint blast because I hoped that it would be more powerful. But, I don't know what this is or how it happened." Sorahiko continued saying, "Kid, your Diminished Art works by making whoever touches it weaker and making you stronger in return, correct?" Midoriya nodded before he caught on to what Gran Torino was saying. "This time, the very opposite happened!" Sorahiko nodded as Midoriya continued explaining, finally aware of what happened. "This paint made me weaker than before, but made All Might stronger when it touched him. So, I unlocked a part of my quirk that can strengthen others instead of weakening them! This will be so helpful in the future for team ups! Imagine the potential hero combo attacks!"

Toshinori and Sorahiko briefly watched Midoriya eagerly analyze his own quirk before calming him down. Midoriya then deactivated the new power on Toshinori, who deflated himself after. "How do you think I awakened this power, guys? Because I don't know if it was simply because I charged the blast," Midoriya said. Sorahiko quickly pondered and said, "I don't know what the main cause could be. It could have something to do with One For All, but with how hard you've been training with your quirk these past few months, it could've been the quirk strengthening itself." "So young Midoriya, what do you plan on naming this new third form of your quirk?" Midoriya heard Toshinori's question and started thinking for potential names. After a few seconds, he shouted, "I'll call it my Amplified Art!"

"That's a great name kid," Sorahiko said. "But maybe you should be going home now and get some rest. You've got a big day ahead of you, after all." Midoriya smiled thinking of what the next day would hold and said, "Don't you worry, Gran Torino-sensei and Toshinori-Sensei. Tomorrow, I'm gonna take the U.A Entrance Exam and ace it no problem!"

* * *

_**Authors notes**_

FINALLY DONE! I really hope you guys enjoyed this chapter because I put a bunch of effort into it, and I'm excited for what will be coming next. I'll try bringing the next chapter much sooner than this one took, but I recently got a job so it could still take a bit. Anyway, let me know if you guys hated or loved this chapter by reviewing, and once again thank you to the people that enjoyed the first chapter. See ya later!


	3. Chapter 3

Hello, audience! The chapter may be shorter than the previous ones but hopefully, you guys won't mind. Also, I have a kinda important announcement in the author's note at the end, so if you wouldn't skip that part I'd appreciate it. Anyway, enjoy the chapter!

* * *

Midoriya woke up early with the assistance of his alarm, eager to start his day. _'Today's the day! All of my training with All Might and Gran Torino has led up to this!'_ At the end of his thought, Midoriya promptly jumped out of his bed to dress himself. He decided to wear his normal black school uniform, before packing a pair of training clothes in his yellow bag for the physical exam. After placing socks over his bare feet, he stepped into black and comfortable sneakers he would usually use for running activities.

Midoriya then walked himself downstairs to the kitchen, when he encountered his mother for the first time that morning. Inko seemed to be able to sense her son's happiness as she greeted him. "Good morning honey! What's got you in such high spirits today?" Midoriya then informed her, "I'm taking the U.A entrance exam today! I've been looking forward to this for so long, but now that it's here, I can barely contain myself!" Inko smiled at her son and said, "Well you're dealing with it much better than I would. Honestly, my anxiety would make me a complete mess." The son and mother both laughed at the idea of how Inko would react before they decided to start breakfast.

Inko's morning meal consisted of toasted bread and a cup of coffee, while Midoriya himself ate syrup-covered french toast and scrambled eggs with orange juice as his beverage. He quickly finished the prepared food and was about to leave the house before his mother stopped him. "Izuku, I just wanna say now that I know you put in a bunch of effort for this, and I'm proud of you for getting to where you are." After her statement, Inko pulled the young man in for a hug. "I have no doubt in my mind that they'll accept you, and they're idiots if they don't somehow. Just be sure to show them what you've got, Izuku." Midoriya released the hold from his mother and said, "Don't worry, I will. Alright, I better get going, kacchan will get mad if I'm late!" As Midoriya turned and rushed out of the house, his mother said a few more words of encouragement. "Remember honey, Plus Ultra!" Midoriya quickly nodded at his mother full of resolve before he shut the front door.

Midoriya briefly took a moment to repeat his mother's words of inspiration. "Plus Ultra!" Afterward, he started jogging to the location he and Bakugou agreed to meet before the exam started.

* * *

Midoriya slowed his jog to a walk as his friend Bakugou stood in front of the U.A entrance to the large building, wearing the same school outfit as him while carrying a lightweight sports bag. Bakugou instantly started yelling at Midoriya once he walked close enough. "What the hell man? We discussed last night what time we were gonna be here!" "But I'm not late Kacchan!" Midoriya quickly attempted to defend himself from his friend's anger. Bakugou briefly glanced at the time on his phone before saying, "You were close enough Deku! Of all the days to start slacking, this one can't be it!"

Midoriya shook his head at Bakugou's behavior and said, "Don't worry Kacchan. Unfortunately, I couldn't have gotten here sooner, but I wouldn't miss this for the world," turning his head to look at the building marked as his goal. "Yeah, you got that right. This is the first step to being the heroes we've dreamt of being since we were kids Deku," Bakugou reminded him. "If that's the case," Midoriya said, "then let's hit the ground running! We overcome everything they throw at us and show them we're hero material!" Midoriya exclaimed as his speech calmed Bakugou and excited himself. He took his first step towards the building, only for one foot of his to trip over the other, causing him to slowly fall forward. His instincts told him to adapt to the situation using a safety roll, but before he could use it, Midoriya in midair was pulled back into his standing position by someone behind him.

Once out of danger from falling, Midoriya quickly turned around to thank his friend Bakugou but was surprised to see that his savior was instead a girl with light pink skin, with the irises of her eyes yellow and the sclera black. The mystery girl also had skinny, yellow horns that came from her pink, short hair. Once finished observing the girl's facial features, Midoriya noticed that she was wearing a short skirt and a long sleeved collar shirt. After what seemed like hours of Midoriya staring at the girl in front of him, she spoke.

"Are you okay? I probably shouldn't have yanked so hard on ya, but I didn't want you to get hurt before even starting the exams." Midoriya took a moment to clear his head before responding, "Yeah, I'm fine! Thanks for saving me, that would've been extremely embarrassing." As Midoriya talked to the pink-skinned girl, Bakugou muttered, "It kinda already is, Deku." Neither Midoriya nor the friendly girl heard Bakugou's comment as they continued talking. "Well, I'd better get going. Good luck on your exams, and maybe I'll see you later!" The girl then waved before walking her way into the building.

Bakugou decided to take her example and said, "Come on Deku, we should head in too. We can't afford to miss something important because we were just standing here." Midoriya then nodded at his friend before saying, "Yeah, you're right. Let's go!"

* * *

"Alright everybody, holler if ya hear me!" Present Mic exclaimed to the room of potential students in order to get them excited, but the only response that the Pro Hero received was silence. "Alright fine, I'll go ahead and explain the practical test of the exam now." As the hero started talking seriously, Midoriya was within the crowd of people, quickly thinking to himself next to Bakugou. _'I seriously can't believe that Present Mic is talking to us right now. I listen to his broadcast all the time, and now I'm in the same room as him. Actually, forget about that right now, I gotta focus.'_

Midoriya then looked at the image displayed for all exam participants to see, the different types of point robots included in the practical test. _'So we'll have to battle robots in the test for points, depending on how much a certain robot is worth. Apparently, they're called the Victory, Imperial, Venator, and Executor robots. Also, each robot has a special attribute to it, with the difficulty of defeating the robot corresponding to how much it is worth. The robots worth one point seem to have great agility, but extremely weak. The two-pointer robots seem to be a mix between speed and attack power, so it's slightly harder. The hardest are the robots worth three points, by the looks of their bulky figure and launchers on their shoulders. It's safe to guess that this one's more durable and stronger than the others, but has reduced speed as a result. I can only wonder about the robot worth zero points-'_

"YOU, WITH THE GREEN CURLY HAIR!"

Midoriya's thought process was suddenly ruined by a tall boy standing behind him who yelled for his attention. Turning his head to look to him, Midoriya noticed that he had navy blue hair on wore glasses on his face. "You have been muttering to yourself since Present Mic started talking! Do you have any idea of how distracting you were when we were supposed to be listening to his directions? If you came here just to waste time, then you might as well leave now!"

The crowd started laughing at Midoriya as he realized that he once again accidentally thought out loud for everyone to hear. Wanting to fix his mistake, Midoriya stood to apologize but saw Bakugou standing up as well, most likely for less peaceful reasons. Midoriya placed a hand on his closest shoulder and said, "Don't, Kacchan. I'll handle this, so don't risk getting disqualified because of me." Bakugou huffed and sat down before Midoriya completely stood from his seat and faced the displeased teen.

Midoriya suddenly bowed and said, "I'm sincerely sorry for distracting you and the others. I was just thinking about the test, and subconsciously my thoughts spilled out of my mouth. I'm here to attempt getting in this school just like you, and it was never my intention to bother anyone here." Before the teen could react to Midoriya's response, Present Mic interjected. "Now that's some hero maturity! Since the young man apologized, that's the end of that! Now, unless anyone else has a question, start heading to your designated area and GOOD LUCK!" As students stood up to either walk straight to their center to prepare or quickly socialize, Midoriya started talking to Bakugou.

"Why didn't you tell me that I was thinking out loud Kacchan? You know how many times I've had to deal with that!" Bakugou responded nonchalantly, "Because you're smart, Deku. You instantly made accurate breakdowns of the arena obstacles as soon as you saw them, so I figured that it would be important for me to know. Besides," Bakugou paused for a moment to glare at the boy who called out and embarrassed his friend, "It's not my fault no one else here could mind their own business. So, are we in the same battle center?" Midoriya quickly glanced at his information card before he took a peek at Bakugou's and shook his head. "No, we're separated. They probably wanna make sure that we don't team up with someone we know." As they walked out of the auditorium together, Midoriya and Bakugou stopped before going their separate ways.

"Listen, Deku. I know you've already got the written part of the exam in the bag, so be sure to give 'em hell out there," Bakugou said as he extended his fist in Midoriya's direction. "I know attacking things is your expertise, so I'd be wasting my breath trying to say something motivational back. Just try not to accidentally hit one of the contestants," Midoriya said as both teens shared a quick laugh before they bumped their fists against each other. Midoriya was the first to walk away towards his battle center, the opposite direction to Bakugou's destination.

The latter was about to head to his center but felt someone behind him bump into his back, causing him to quickly turn around. He witnessed a light pink scarf almost on the ground, and so Bakugou knelt and snatched it from the air in order to give it to the person that dropped it. As he rose, Bakugou saw a short girl with brown eyes and bobbed cut hair, with a pink marking on each cheek. She was wearing a dark brown coat with a hood, along with a skirt and black leggings. "I'm so sorry that I bumped into you! I hope you're not mad at me or anything," the girl said after recovering from the collision. "It's fine," Bakugou said as he handed the scarf back into her hands. "Next time, just be a bit more careful about where you're going, round face." Bakugou then walked away, not seeing the lady's confusion. As he walked, Bakugou thought to himself, _'Her hands were extremely soft. Does that have something to do with her quirk, or is she just like that? Actually, don't even worry about it. I'll probably never see her again anyway.'_

* * *

Midoriya stared at the front of the fake city of his battle center, a bit mesmerized on how large and detailed the area was. In the mass crowd of other examinees waiting for the practical test to start, Midoriya stood in his personal apparel suited for the test. Before arriving, Midoriya changed from his school uniform to a sleeveless grey shirt, which was slightly concealed under an unzipped green jacket with a white stripe down the sleeves. Below, Midoriya wore green pants with identical white stripes on the side of the clothing. Midoriya had also taken off his socks and placed on his feet his red sneakers, which he modified to have multiple deliberate holes through the soles of his footwear.

In order to calm himself, Midoriya took slow and deep breaths while he remembered the positivity output he has received with each inhale. _'I got this. With how much I've endured for this moment, I_ know _I got this! My mom, Kacchan, Recovery Girl, Gran Torino, and surprisingly even All Might himself believes in me. I must do this for them, as well as myself!'_

After Midoriya succeeded in removing any fear and anxiety from his system, he noticed that a familiar face was walking up to him. _'It's the guy that yelled at me in the auditorium,'_ Midoriya realized as the young man was currently wearing a blue tight skin suit with black markings and a white outline. "Young man with green curly hair, I'd like to talk to you," he said approaching Midoriya. _'I already apologized, is he still pissed off at me?'_ Midoriya wondered to himself before hearing what he wanted to say. Similar to how Midoriya himself performed the action, the young man suddenly bowed and stated, "I'm sorry about before. It was not you but I that was at fault in the auditorium, and so me shouting at you in front of everyone was not right." Midoriya quickly smiled and said, "It's okay, I probably would've been upset too if I were in your position."

Immediately after Midoriya's response, Present Mic yelled, "Alright, GO!" All of the examinees were confused about what the hero meant, so Present Mic elaborated. "There's no countdown in a real battle, you just gotta be ready! GO GO GO!" It was after the Pro Hero's third chant to start the test, students ran to the entrance as fast as possible, while Midoriya crouched to his knees and focused his power. Once finished after a few moments, Midoriya released his paint quirk from his feet, which sprayed out of the holes with enough force to blast Midoriya into the air, giving him the advantage of moving faster than the struggling participants and being able to have access to a bird's eye view.

'_Okay, the first robot closest to me is coming up straight ahead,'_ Midoriya thought as he safely descended himself to the streets of the fake city with controlled paint bursts and a safety roll. Once within range of the one point Victory robot, Midoriya fired a blast of his Diminishing Art paint from his right hand at the obstacle, which wasn't bothered by being covered in the paint as it locked onto its first target. _'Alright, let's see how well my training paid off,'_ Midoriya thought as he rolled up his sleeves before he ran towards the robot and charged up to five percent of One For All into his dominant fist. He ducked and slid under a large punch the robot threw in order to get behind it, and before it could completely turn around, gave the robot a punch of his own at the head. The instant result was said head flying off of its body from the impact, shutting the rest of the body down.

'_HOLY CRAP, that felt way too easy! It was like a knife cutting through butter! This is-nope, calm down. Can't get too excited and lose my advantage,'_ Midoriya thought while noticing that some participants were catching up. He blasted through the sky once again and looked for more targets until he saw a group of five Victory robots along with two Imperials searching for an opponent. "Don't mind if I do," Midoriya said before launching barrage blasts of his Diminishing Art paint with his fingers, knocking back the machines bit by bit. Midoriya then landed on the ground and used One For All to punch a hole through the nearest robot. Using his enhanced strength originated from Toshinori's quirk, he lifted the nonfunctional one-pointer over his head and threw it at the approaching enemies rushing towards him with great force. The attack caused a chain explosion that consumed and destroyed all of the robots near Midoriya. _'Ten points won't be enough, I gotta keep going!'_

His focus previously being entirely on the robots he faced, Midoriya realized that the other participants had caught up to him in the city, and are racking in points as well. _'It seems like I'm the only one in this center that can fly, but there is a limited amount of robots to take down,'_ Midoriya thought while ascending to observe more opportunities to earn points. Once finding three robots worth two points, Midoriya dove down to the streets at immense speed while charging his legs with the energy of One For All. Using five percent, Midoriya flipped as he became in reach, and delivered a devastating ax kick on an unsuspecting Imperial. The speed and power of Midoriya's kick caused the victim to crumble down under his heel as if its body was a piece of paper. Moving on to the next target, Midoriya continued the flow of One For All within his legs to boost his speed as he ran towards another robot. The two-pointer swung a metal fist at him in retaliation, but Midoriya merely leaped over the attack. Before he returned to the ground, Midoriya used a five percent roundhouse kick on the robot's head, causing it to fall over. While it was still vulnerable, Midoriya converted the power of his latest quirk from his leg to his two fists, clutched them together and raised them over his head to perform a double ax handle attack to the robot's torso area.

Midoriya's fists tore and caved in the robot's chest, shutting down its actions permanently. Midoriya then launched a large Diminishing Art paint blast at the remaining two-pointer from the palm of an open hand, before closing it and filling it with five percent of One For All once more. Running at the final target, Midoriya jumped as the two-pointer also rushed in, and used a Detroit smash to punch through the head of the enemy. "Alright, sixteen points! It's still pretty low, and I know I can do better!" Midoriya stated as he moved to find more villain robots.

* * *

Bakugou flawlessly flipped over a robot worth two points before landing and blasting its head with an explosion from both sides. After taking the Imperial robot down, he muttered to himself, "That's seventy-seven." Bakugou was near the end of the practical test, and had gone full throttle since he started. In an area where destroying as many opponents as possible is welcomed, it was hard for Bakugou to hold restraint. Suddenly, he noticed a blond boy with a lightning streak in his hair facing against a three-point Venator robot with an electricity quirk. Bakugou watched the blond fire a final electric shock to the robot, but appeared to have reached his limit. The boy showed a blank stare and a silly looking smile as he raised his two thumbs up at nothing.

"Okay, either this is some drawback from his quirk or this guy is dangerously stupid," Bakugou told himself as he walked towards the idiot in question. Once close enough, Bakugou softly tapped his shoulder. "Hey, are you alright? This isn't some kind of joke, is it?" Another Venator robot interrupted the moment by marching its way towards the two contestants. Bakugou looked back at the seemingly defenseless teen behind him and thought, _'He's more important right now than taking down the bot. I'm also a bit tired, so I can't fight and protect him.'_ Quickly thinking of an idea inspired by Midoriya, Bakugou picked up a handful of rocks in his right hand and threw them in the air above the three-pointer. Quickly noticing the projectiles, the robot aimed and launched missiles at the rocks as it mistakenly saw them as a threat.

While the three-pointer was focused on the rocks in the air, Bakugou released a burst of small explosions from his hands, providing a smoke screen for both him and the silly blond. Confident that the robot wouldn't be able to see them, Bakugou placed the stationary boy on his back and used his explosions to blast them high enough to reach the roof of a nearby building, effectively escaping the path of the villain robot. After taking a quick breather for his efforts, Bakugou then turned to the vulnerable boy and said, "I don't know when this weird thing of yours wears off, so I'm just gonna stay here with you until the exam time runs out, alright?" In response, the boy who was saved raised his thumbs at Bakugou and said, "Wheeyyy!" Bakugou immediately started laughing at the situation. As bizarre as the guy he found was, he was glad that he was safe.

* * *

Using his superior speed, Midoriya managed to climb onto the back of an Imperial robot, which rapidly moved its body around unpredictably in an attempt to shake him off. As he fought the movement, Midoriya used One For All in his hands to grab and rip the robot's head from its shoulders without much effort and ceased all activity from it. After Midoriya jumped off the body as it collapsed, he told himself, "That one makes thirty-six points. That's not bad at all if anyone asks me!" Midoriya then began to sprint down the street and looked for any more targets to increase his score.

Normally for fighting so long in the exam Midoriya would be tired or at least winded, but fortunately one of his quirks has helped him continue without worrying much about his limits. Throughout the exam, Midoriya has hit most of his targets with his Diminishing Art paint before using One For All to finish them. As a side effect of his paint ability, while Midoriya weakened the robots to defeat them, his body got stronger as a result. Besides natural strength and speed, his endurance increased with each use as well. As Midoriya continued sprinting, he noticed and recognized someone that caused him to slow down.

Midoriya looked at the pink skinned girl that stopped him from falling and interacted with him before the test, currently wearing an outfit consisting of a purple tank top and black shorts. She stood in the way of a Victory and Imperial robot almost reaching another participant, defending a blond haired boy that was on his knees and appeared to be suffering from a stomach ache. Before Midoriya could rush over and assist the girl, she charged towards the two enemies with a smile on her face. The pink girl dodged an attack from the first robot effortlessly and projected a strange liquid from her hand to the wheel of the one-pointer as she passed it. The Victory robot attempted to turn around and follow her but soon discovered that its wheel was no longer functional and was mostly liquid before tipping over. While the one-pointer used its arms to try holding itself up, the girl placed both of her hands on the sides of the robot's head before producing liquid from her skin again. Within moments, the head became more of a silvery paste that leaked between her fingers as the corrosive melted the robot's dome.

'_Ah, so that liquid she used on the robot must've been a type of acid quirk! That's really cool,'_ Midoriya thought to himself as he watched the girl defeat one of the robots. "Now it's a fair one on one," she said become running at the more challenging Imperial robot. Upon approaching the enemy, the girl started throwing balls of acid at the two-pointer, slowly but surely burning through its tough skin. Circling the Imperial while bombarding it with her balls of liquid, she specifically aimed her acid at the joints of the robot, making it harder for the opponent to maneuver. She then stopped moving and taunted the robot to come at her using her hand, which caused the robot's tail and one of its arms to fall off due to its own movement. As the girl got closer, the two-pointer attempted to land a strike with its remaining arm, but its target instead vaulted over the limb and lifted the tail on her shoulder before using it as a club. As the robot received more damage, the girl chanted, "Why are you hitting yourself? Why are you hitting yourself?" before it finally had enough and shut down. Midoriya did not know how many points she had after defeating the robots by herself, but he felt confident that her skills were enough to get her into the school.

Suddenly, Midoriya received a punch from behind that sent him flying a few feet away before reaching the ground. Once landed, Midoriya turned and realized that in front of him was a robot worth three points, the Venator obstacle. _'Crap, I was paying too much attention to that girl! Guess that was my way of paying for it,'_ Midoriya quickly scolded himself as he picked himself up and readied to fight. Once seeing that its target stood back up, the Venator robot launched its missiles at Midoriya, who took flight using his paint to avoid them.

The green haired teen landed on the ground with his knees bent and attacked the Venator with a Diminishing Art blast from both hands. The robot did nothing to stop itself from being covered by paint, not being able to see it as a true threat, even as the mass amount of weakening paint chipped away some of its exterior defense within seconds. Afterward, Midoriya charged at the three-point Venator with a five percent Detroit Smash ready and caused the blow to land on its chest armor. Despite the cracks produced from the powerful attack, the smash was not enough to completely pierce through the Venator. Shocked by the durability, Midoriya created some distance by quickly performing multiple back handsprings away from the robot.

'_Damn, it really is tougher than the others if it's able to survive a smash attack after I weakened it. I guess I'll have to bring the heat up a notch!'_ Midoriya mentally told himself before he charged up to ten percent of One For All into both of his legs. During his last five months of training with All Might and Gran Torino, Midoriya managed to increase his threshold to use up to ten percent of One For All safely. Containing the boost of strength within his limbs, Midoriya bent his legs and pushed off to blast himself to the robot at higher speeds. Within close range before the Venator noticed, Midoriya used ten percent of One For All into his arms before he tore the loaded missile launchers off of the robot's shoulders, limiting its arsenal of attacks. After setting the explosives down, Midoriya then crouched in front of the three-pointer before rising with a glowing right fist and hitting it with an enhanced uppercut that sent the robot several feet in the air. While his opponent was still in midair, Midoriya picked up both launchers before hurling them at the Venator using his enhanced strength. After impact, the robot was torn to pieces of scrap metal due to the large explosion above. Once finished with the battle, Midoriya quickly recalled what his previous score was before saying "Alright, I now have thirty-nine points!"

Midoriya looked back in the direction he focused on watching the friendly girl fight against the Victory and Imperial robot, but realized that the person he watched was no longer visible on the street. _'She must've gone ahead after she helped that guy to get some more points. I should probably do the same,'_ Midoriya thought to himself before sprinting down the street path. Suddenly, there was something that caused the ground to seemingly shake and produced a large dust cloud within the area. A few moments later, Midoriya saw many students running past him, leaving him to wonder what were the other contestants running from. Midoriya knew why once the smoke cleared, as a gigantic machine started crushing parts of buildings around it. Many other students joined the first bunch and ran from the zero-point threat, also known as the Executor robot.

'_Shit, there's no way I could get through that! I should probably follow their example and get away from here,' _Midoriya thought to himself before he noticed the pink-skinned girl once more. She was trapped under a piece of rubble from the building that the Executor robot smashed into, and could not manage to break free from her current predicament. She attempted to use her acid quirk to help, but due to being weakened she couldn't melt through the material as quickly as she would like. Midoriya concluded that the trapped girl wouldn't be able to escape in time before the giant robot approached and crushed her. _'Everyone else is focused on running away, and I won't just watch that nice girl die!'_

Midoriya immediately started running towards her and the Executor once he realized how much danger she was in, then activated his paint quirk underneath his feet to fly and reach the threat faster. Once near the robot's body, Midoriya released torrents of his Diminishing Art paint from both hands aimed at the Executor's head. The machine stopped its marching to place one of its large arms in front of the paint beam in an attempt to protect its eye, until Midoriya suddenly ended the paint blast and landed on the Executor's hand. _'Alright, I'm gonna have to give everything I got for this to go right. I've only used the technique once, but it'll be enough!'_

Midoriya then flew upwards to the robot's head after his short pause, and started his technique. As he reared his right arm back and focused, the strength obtained from his Diminishing Art was collected and gathered to his arm, which had begun to turn red. The crimson color spread from the end of his fist to his shoulder before growing in mass, and the veins within appeared as if they were going to erupt from his skin. Midoriya then channeled One For All into the same arm, which ripped apart his right sleeve and generated a bright glow that united with the previous effect of his appendage. The preparations completed and close enough to the Executor's face, Midoriya took a deep breath before he shouted his attack and released it with all of his heart and resolve. "DETROIT SMASH: PLUS ONE HUNDRED PERCENT!"

Midoriya's red glowing arm finally impacted against the Executor, and instantly produced a shock wave large enough to be felt by the participants hundreds of feet below. By the end of it everyone, including Midoriya, looked at the Executor in shock and awe as it fell back with its head no longer connected to the body of the mechanical corpse. The glow and strength dimmed from Midoriya's body as he took in the damage he dealt. _'I can't believe that I did that..The power that I have now is honestly amazing,' _Midoriya thought to himself before the backlash kicked in and he screamed in pain. _'However, it doesn't come without repercussions.'_ When gravity finally took hold of Midoriya and sent him falling, he used his paint ability to descend safely as he cradled his damaged arm. It wasn't until after he landed on the street Midoriya decided to focus on inspecting the injury he recently attained.

The skin from Midoriya's arm was still red, but from severe muscle injury and possible blood vessels popped. Midoriya also believed that the bone was broken due to the familiar limited movement of the limb. He then looked around to make sure that the girl he saw was no longer in danger, but was quickly tackled into a hug by said girl. Midoriya quietly hissed from her touching the injured arm, but quickly dismissed it. "Thank you so much! You saved my freaking life, and you looked so awesome doing it too! You just flew up there, shooting blast after blast, then tore that giant robot's head off!"

Midoriya then had the opportunity to see her face up close once more as she looked directly at him, her eyes shimmering with tears but looked as happy as can be. "My name's Mina Ashido. What's yours?" Midoriya had to stop himself from looking at her face too much to respond, "M-My name is Izuku Midoriya." After the introduction, Mina gave Midoriya another tight squeeze of appreciation and said, "You're my hero, Izuku!" Midoriya couldn't respond due to the sudden sentimental feelings he felt from Mina's comment, along with the delayed realization of how close she was to him. Luckily he was distracted by Present Mic suddenly screaming, "TIME'S UP! As of now, the practical exam is over!"

The hero's announcement caused Mina to let go of Midoriya, which led him to notice that all of the other participants of the exam were staring at him. _'It must be because I took down that robot. Either that or the injury,'_ Midoriya thought briefly looking down at his arm. Soon after, Midoriya's ears caught a familiar voice. "Anybody hurt?" A small elderly woman asked as she looked through the crowd, before she walked up to Mina and Midoriya. Mina made sure to let Recovery girl know that she was relatively fine, just a few scratches from being trapped before, but the lady still insisted on kissing her on her hand, activating her quirk and removing any small injuries she had. She then moved to Midoriya, who was nervous that she would yell at him for overdoing it. "You're gonna be okay sonny," she said before kissing his hand as well. "Just try to be more careful next time, okay?" While Midoriya's pain and wounds disappeared, he made sure to nod to Recovery Girl in gratitude before she walked away to search for others in need.

"So Izuku," Mina suddenly said, startling Midoriya. "You got a phone?" Midoriya responded by pulling out his smartphone from his pants pocket and showing it to the girl. "Yes, I do. Why do you ask?" Mina then snatched the phone from his hand, before she tapped the phone screen with her thumbs several times and promptly returned it to the owner, content with her usage. "Uh Mina," Midoriya started, "What did you just do with my phone?" Mina quickly laughed and said, "I gave you my number, silly! I think I did pretty well during the test today, and there's no way you won't be getting in, so I figured we could stay in touch!" Midoriya was somewhat stunned by Mina's kind actions. _'No girl my own age has ever taken the time to have a friendly conversation with me. Until a few seconds ago, the only female contact I had in my phone was my mom! Today has been nothing but surprise after surprise.'_ "I'm thinking that if we both get accepted, we could hang out for celebration! Or we could just hang out in general," Mina said to Midoriya. He smiled and said, "Yeah, that'd be great! I won't be doing much anyway, so I'll be free whenever you are." Mina said, "Good! I should probably get going now, but be sure to text me later!" Midoriya said, "I will! Talk to you later!" as he waved at his new friend walking away. _'I should get going too. There's so many things I gotta tell Kacchan! I wonder how many points he got during the test. Either way, I believe the results are mailed to the participants in about a week, so by then I'll know for sure.'_

* * *

A week has passed since Midoriya, Mina and Bakugou gave their all at the U.A Entrance Exams, and have yet to receive their results. Midoriya spent the majority of his time relaxing at home, and using his phone to get to know Mina better. He discovered that she enjoyed shopping, her favorite colors were purple and ironically pink, and loved to dance. In return, Midoriya told Mina about his hobby of analyzing quirks and heroes, his favorite colors being black and green, and his interest for video games. They enjoyed each other's company through calls and texts, and even hung out together at a local mall, where Midoriya had to constantly prevent Mina from going on a shopping spree. _'Her hyper attitude can be difficult for me to handle sometimes, but I do enjoy hanging out with Mina a lot,'_ Midoriya thought to himself while lying on his bed.

Suddenly, Midoriya heard his mother screaming about something outside of his room. Not knowing what was the cause, Midoriya got up and decided to investigate. _'Please don't let this be about another tiny spider you found in the house mom,'_ Midoriya wished as he walked into the living room, but saw his mother holding something in her hand instead of pointing at a small creature like he had partially expected. "IZUKU! It's here!" Inko shouted at her son before showing him a small envelope in her hand with the familiar U.A logo on it. She handed it to Izuku and said, "Go ahead and open it. I'll give you some privacy until you know the results," before Inko quickly headed to her room. Midoriya sat down on the couch and opened the envelope, eager to know if he got into the school. Instead of a classic letter, a small device fell out and landed on the small living room table before it activated and displayed a hologram of his mentor.

"I am here as a projection! Greetings, young Midoriya," All Might said. "This may be a surprise to you, but I'm here because I'll be a new teacher for U.A this year!" The statement quickly brought a smile to Midoriya's face, before he forced himself to pay attention to the digital All Might. "Now, without further ado, I'll announce your results for the U.A Entrance Exam. Your written test score was above average, and passed with flying colors. For your practical exam however, you only scored thirty nine points from the villain robots. Not bad for someone under your circumstances, but a point lower than what was required to pass." Midoriya's eyes suddenly stopped glimmering with hope. _'I didn't make it in. I tried so hard, and I screwed up because I couldn't have gotten just one more point to pass?'_ Midoriya thought to himself as the boy stood up and was about to leave the room to tell his mother the terrible news, until the hologram reminded him that the message was not over.

"..IF THAT WAS ALL TO IT, THAT IS! Forgive me for the pause, but I wanted to add some suspense!" All Might laughed heavily while Midoriya realized that there was still hope to hold on to, and sat back down to hear more. "You see, young Midoriya," the All Might hologram said,"The test wasn't all about destroying robots. The staff included a secret point system that depended on someone putting others before themselves; Rescue points! After what you did at the end of the exam, you received sixty rescue points, the highest amount given to a contestant taking this year's exam! Add that to your villain points, and you have a total of ninety nine points, giving you second place on the exam leader board!"

Midoriya was in shock of what he heard and completely blocked out All Might congratulating him before his image disappeared. It took a few seconds before Midoriya's excitement kicked in as he got up and screamed, "I GOT IN!"

* * *

Hope this was an enjoyable chapter. I wanted to state at the end how sorry I am that this chapter took so long to publish. I've been focused on work for a while, and then on finding a new job because the one I currently have now sucks. But, I promise I will release chapters as fast as I can. This is also a good time to let you guys know that I'll be doing another fanfiction story alongside this one. It's not anime related, but the story is about Spider-Man so if there's any superhero nerds that wanna check it out, that'd be great. Also, don't worry about me forgetting about this story because of my new one, because I love them both. I enjoy making stories as unique as I can to make them more enjoyable, and I really feel like I succeeded with that here. So, as long as you guys keep liking the story, I'll keep updating it. Now that I got all of that out, see you guys next chapter!


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